


1 Hundred

by Bubblepop32



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: 1 hundred, 100, Angst, Backstory, Character Development, Child Levi, Doujinshi, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eren Yeager - Freeform, Feels, Flashbacks, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Levi - Freeform, lots of feels, riren - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2018-09-11 02:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 41,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8950729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bubblepop32/pseuds/Bubblepop32
Summary: He was a brat that stole, kill and ran away for survival, having nothing more than the rag on his back and his wits. But that all changed when a mysterious man with gleaming green-blue eyes and an arm picked him off the slums and taught him everything that made him now. ...Until one day...he wasn't there anymore... [DOUJINSHI BY Doro Coppelia]orEren, who has now lost his titan abilities, found himself taking care of a very young, familiar looking child with a cold temper and sharp wits in the infamous Underground. Problem is, he doesn't know what to do with this kid.





	1. Prologue

**Hello Hello! This is Bubblepop32, and I originally posted this story on fanfiction . net (I recommend that you guys read this on fanfic! Contains a lot more info and other stuff) but that doesn't mean I ignore this site completely! I'm still clueless at how this site works and it's so overwhelming (/;/^/;/) Please enjoy my story and do whatever this site lets you do to follow/comment on my work.**

**And that's all from me! Any problems/queries/critiques? - > feel free to PM me or comment XD**

 

Eren was low on gas. His last set of blades were dull, and his titan powers were now out of his system. No matter how many times he bit into his hand, nothing happened. But still, he persisted, shooting his grappling hooks forward, flinging him towards the herd of titans. He wanted to at least do something useful before he gets eaten up. When Mikasa, Armin and even Jean offered their life protecting humanity’s last hope, Eren couldn’t save them. They all died right in front of him, arms outstretched, using their last breath to tell him to run.

If only he could give Mikasa the hug she always wanted and say thanks to Armin for reminding him what determination is. Even if Jean was an asshole, he was still a genuine friend that pumped him up when he was down, especially when they would break into fights and smile widely when they landed a punch on the other. Eren huffed out an exasperated laugh at the thought of thinking that he even considered Jean as his friend.

He continued his way, rhythmically shooting his grappling hooks into the trees, when all of a sudden, a 7-meter titan appeared from below, with its mouth wide open ready to chomp down on anything. Being suddenly dragged out of his thoughts by the sudden attack, Eren fumbled with his control and ended up shooting the grappling hook into the air. Since he lost the one time chance of getting away, there was going to be consequences. Very severe consequences.

The titan launched itself up towards Eren at an amazing speed, crunching down on his left arm that hung unprotected in the air. The sudden impact sent him spiralling towards the ground at a dangerously high speed. Dirt and fallen leaves exploded from where Eren hit, sending debris everywhere. He had crashed landed into the ground right in the middle of a titan herd.

“Dammit!” He cursed through gritted teeth. A painful hum radiated from his left side. He turned his head slightly and saw a huge splatter of blood where his arm should be.

 _It’ll grow back in a second._ Ten seconds go by and the arm hasn’t returned. _Oh yeah, I forgot._ He rested his right hand on his face and sighed. The titan’s moved in, all with their sinister smile plastered on their faces.

Eren knew he was going to get eaten…unless…no, he wouldn’t come… _This is going to be the end_ -“Eren! Get your shit together!” A flurry of shining blades chopped down the titans towering over Eren. His raven hair flowed through the air, movements so experienced he could do them with his eyes closed. Levi made it just in time to save Eren from being devoured.

He swiftly moved in to scoop up Eren. He landed skillfully on the nearest branch just out of reach from the titan’s grasps. Without further causing pain to the boy, he hastily placed the injured boy’s body on the branch and examined the damage. His face turned into a severe frown when he saw the missing arm.

“Why the fuck aren’t you regenerating like the monster you were?” He demanded angrily. “Now you look like him…” He murmured in a lower voice. _Of course he does…he’s him, but just…_

Eren chuckled. “Heh, you know captain that comment about me being a monster hurt a little you know?” Without his powers, he was already dying, and fast. “Well,” he coughed as if to emphasise the fact, “about the titan powers…they’re not working anymore…” He confessed quietly, scared that Captain Levi will get pissed at him in his last moments. Levi simply stared at him as if he said the most idiotic thing he could possibly say.

“What the actual fuck just came out of that mouth.” Levi stood up and surveyed the surroundings. The titans continue to come from every direction, waiting at the base of the tree for the two snacks to fall out of the tree. “I’m taking you to Hanji now.” He stated without hesitation. If they didn’t leave soon, it would be impossible to make it through the dense barrier of titans around them. He scooped up Eren’s body once again and shot off.

Except, Levi made a mistake. Now of all times. In the rush of frantically trying to get Eren to Hanji, he only looked around, but not below. When he stepped off with Eren held tightly in his grasp, a 10-meter titan appeared from under the branch and swung its huge salami-like arm towards the startled captain who was carrying a fragile package that needed to be the right side up. Because he was carrying Eren, his line of sight was blurred. The arm flew in like with the sound of a loud jet. As Levi turned his head, he fired his grappling hook the split second he saw it. He flew up, clearing the titan.

His widened and missed it by just a breath away. “Shit! That was close-” Another titan flung itself from the tree and flew right towards them, dead centre. “Fuck!!” He didn’t quite fling himself up fast enough, and his left leg was caught up by the titan’s shoulder. The leg was rammed in the completely different way it was supposed to bend, and thus it dislocated. Levi blustered out in pain at his once again twisted left leg. But instead of giving up and whining, he continued travelling.

Eren watched this in horror whilst in the protection of Levi’s grasp. “C-captain!! Dammit! You got hurt because of me! Your teammates…my friends…!” He bit his right hand again, using all the force he could put into the bite. He wanted to be useful, just at least not let all those lives get wasted. Blood burst out everywhere and trickled down his arm. Nothing happened. He was preparing to bite his hands again, but Levi had enough of his self-blame.

“How long are you going to be an idiot? Listen brat. By joining the survey corps, we have already thrown our lives away. It’s not fricking your fault that everyone dies.” He tells him in a surprisingly calm tone. “So stop sulking like a kid. We are both getting out of this shitty mess alive.”

Eren was genuinely surprised and impressed by the small inspirational pep talk the captain gave him right in the midst of a dire situation. Why was the speech inspirational? In all the haze of confused thoughts of how he could be of use, he finally thought of something. Something that will help Captain Levi get out of this situation. And something that will make him feel useful.

Eren closed his eyes as he could no longer keep them open. “Thanks, captain, for everything…” He wheezed, his life obviously near death’s door. “Thanks for eating my bland…cooking…giving me inspirational…pep talks like these… _wheeze…wheeze_ …and being my captain…”

Levi had no idea why this injured/dying kid is starting all of a sudden. He only said the truth, nothing that needed to be thanked for. “What the fuck are you trying to say brat! You’re being too vague, get to the point!” He ordered. He’s trying to concentrate on avoiding the titans, but with a leg sending explosively painful signals and a whiny brat saying gibberish, it wasn’t helping.

Eren hacked out a cough and sighed bemusedly. _Captain can be so amusing sometimes_. “Promise me…you’ll definitely…definitely…make it out...alive…” He grabbed the captain’s shirt tightly with his bloody hand so that captain gets that he’s trying to be urgent. He opened his eyes just enough to see Captain Levi’s face.

Levi took a moment to stare down into the boy’s effulgent green-blue eyes that were now barely open. _What the fuck is this little brat thinking?_ “What are implying? You saying you don’t trust me-”

“Just…promise…” Eren whispered. The pain from his arm was finally getting to him at full measure.

“Fine. I promise. Now don’t frickin’ jump out of my arms.”

Eren smiled at the response. _Good. He promised._ Just as Eren was going to tell the captain something else, another titan came terribly close to smashing them to pulp against the tree trunk.

Levi’s eyebrow twitched slightly with annoyance. “Fuck…we’re not going to last long if this keeps on happening.” He took a look back and saw a few dozen titans of various sizes chasing after them in their oddly manner. “Tch!” He quickly turned his head forward and stepped up his pace and continued. They were close to Maria, but not close enough for a 100% guarantee that they would be safe. From their position, the percentage of survival was most likely 30%, minus another 15% because both of them were injured, plus both of them were using one 3DMG. After all that calculating it would only be 15% chance of survival.

“Hey…captain…” Eren breathed.

“Hmm? What?”

“Take…care……” Using all of his remaining strength, he dislodged himself from Levi’s grasp and plummeted towards the ground, where all the titans roamed. _It’s for the better…they will execute me anyway when I have no more use…_

The moment he fell, everything seemed to go in slow motion. His body slowly tumbled through the air. Wind whistling past his ears in high pitched thrills. He watched Levi’s eyes widen, showing his immense shock. As the titans closed in on Eren, his eyes locked with Levi’s for a second, and then Levi whizzed past, unable to stop.

“Eren!” The captain yelled back. He was absolutely and utterly shocked at this suicidal brat was actually _suiciding_.

As Eren fell, he wished that he could go back to the very start, and make everything right again.

He saw the captain travelling further into the distance, closer towards the safety of the wall. Knowing that Captain was going to have a higher probability of surviving, he smiled. _I want to go back with him…but I know that won’t do. I need to go and apologise to my friends first._


	2. Part 1

There was once a boy no bigger than 6, who stole, ran away and killed to survive in the underground. It was a horrible place, where many would often steal food and riches from others, living off nothing other than that. This boy was one of them. His body was far from ‘normal’ for kids his age. His bones were shown clearly protruding from his skin, hands and feet covered with calluses and probably less than half the normal weight. His hair was quite long, which was clearly unkempt.

Because of his slender body, he could steal and escape easily from chasers, but sometimes he would get caught. Even when he got caught, he showed no mercy to his captors. To escape, he would even kill.

One day the boy got caught stealing a loaf of hot, steamy bread freshly taken out of a baker’s oven.

“Get back here you piece of trash! Vermin! I will catch you!” The stingy shopkeeper yelled in fury. “When I get you, I will teach you some manners!!”

Of course, the boy simply made a dash for it and ran away, who wouldn’t when an angry man is chasing them and vowing to punish them? But never did the boy know that the street he was on was a dead end. He kept on running, until he realised his mistake.

The stingy shopkeeper soon caught up and cornered the poor boy against the street’s end.

“Now boy. Come with me!” he outstretched his large, powder covered grimy hands to grab the boy when he felt a sudden sharp pain on his palm. _Drip, drip…_

At first he felt pain, which he found odd. He turned his hand around and it had a large piece of glass shoved into his it. The wound was definitely going to be nasty, especially considering that everything in the underworld is potentially laced with deadly viruses or bacteria.

“HOW DARE YOU-” His insult was cut short by the seemingly weak and stick like boy jumping towards him with a rusty iron pole held high above his head ready to strike.

“SHITTY B-BRAT!” He quickly moved his pudgy arms to guard his head, but the experienced boy knew and swung sideways, KO’ing him. Blood puddled around his dented head as the boy swung down for the final move.

But an arm whacked the pole out of the small boy’s grasp and yanked him into the air.

“Let…me go!” The boy squirmed against the person who was dangling him in the air like a piece of cloth. As the boy lost stamina, he briskly caught a glimpse of the man that was holding him up effortlessly.

It was a man, who had dark brown hair, almost black, smoothed backwards. His green-blue eyes gleamed in the dullness of the shadowed underground. There was an unnatural glint in the man’s eyes that sent shivers down the boy’s spine.

The boy was now eagerly desperate to get away. Was this person going to kill him? Well, he had to get away. He grabbed the shard of glass that was meant to be used in emergencies from under his flimsy rag-shirt and held it firmly in his thin fingers.

“Hyaa!” he swung the shard of glass to puncture the man’s face, but before he could do that, the man lets go of him and threw a really hard punch into the boy’s abdomen.

“Gah!” The boy wheezed from the pain. The punch landed right in his guts, and the pain was relentless. His consciousness was fading…he was going to black out. He desperately tried to grasp the consciousness that was slipping away.

…And he blacked out. The boy toppled over and crumpled onto the floor. The man kneeled down and made a slightly concerned face.

“Did I…punch too hard?” He asked himself. He prodded the child’s cheek – there was no response. Yep, he used too much force. “Oops…” He mumbled.

The man looked around to see if anyone was around to witness the small fight, and thankfully, there was no one in the no-through road. He picked the unnaturally light boy up and effortlessly slung him across the shoulder.

He picked up the bread that the boy tried to steal and walked away from the unconscious and bloodied bakery owner as if nothing happened to him.

The boy felt warm and comfortable. _Am I dead? If this was death, then it wouldn’t be that bad._ The boy snuggled into the warmth that wrapped around him.

The slight movement triggered something near his stomach. Sudden pain exploded out of his abdomen, raging an immense burning feeling across his stomach. His eyes burst open and wrapped his arms around the pained area. He gagged and winced at the awful feeling rolling over him.

When the pain subsided to a constant sore hum, he realised that he was still alive. In some other person’s house. Not lying on the street where he was knocked unconscious but in one of those ‘luxurious’ beds covered by a blanket. The boy who has never, ever slept in a proper bed before, was all of a sudden resting soundly in one of them as if it was normal.

All he slept in his life was a ‘bed’ of sheets, which left him with a terribly aching back when he woke up and shivering in the winter. His mother also had little money to spare.

He wanted to sleep for longer in the luxurious environment, but when the memories of a man punching like a devil right in his stomach, he decided that it wasn’t the time to rest. Having curiosity making the better of him, he painstakingly made the slow progress of climbing out of bed.

Being as quiet as he could, he crept across the small room and through the doorway, into the corridor. His breath was shallow, and his heart was beating like a hammer that was banging against his chest like a lunatic. As he crept forward, he spotted artificial light glowing out of a room.

He quickly sneaked to the entrance and peeked around the corner, looking into what seemed like a kitchen with table and chairs. And the man which punched the consciousness out of said boy was cooking something over the stove.

 _I can do this…I’ve done this many times before…I’ll just have to do it again with this man…_ He slowly crept up behind him, his muscles tensed and adrenaline flowed through his body. He saw a knife on the bench, resting next to a chopping board. Deciding that this will be the deciding move, he sprinted up to the bench and grabbed the knife, holding it in an offensive position before charging towards the man’s unprotected back.

Before the twiggy boy even managed to get close to the man, said man turned around amazingly fast and bonked the dangerous boy on the head with the soup ladle he was going to use to scoop the soup.

The boy was startled by the sudden concussion on his head and dropped himself and the knife onto the floor. “Ow!!” His hands shot up and rubbed his head to soothe the brain cracking feeling.

The man walked forward. “I’ll be taking this back.” He crouched down and carefully picked up the knife from the floor and this time, he made sure that he placed it somewhere the boy couldn’t reach easily. He quickly tossed the knife into the sink which was behind him.

The boy cursed to himself at how useless he is. _If only I could be stronger!_ Being lost in an abrupt fit of inner rage, he picked himself up and charged at the man again.

The man sighed and placed the soup ladle down on the benchtop. “Stubborn kid.” He sighed and rubbed his temples with his right hand. He was simply trying to cook some food when all of a sudden this little brat had to barge in like a miniature wrecking ball and ruin the tranquillity. He braced himself for the mini wrecking ball’s attack.

As the boy charged full speed ahead towards him, the man narrowed his eyes and waited for the right moment. A loud ‘THWACK’ sent the boy skidding across the floor in total defeat. The man sighed again and returned to his cooking.

This time the boy had finally learnt his lesson. He painfully sat himself up and simply curled himself into a ball before hugging his knees. _Am I really this weak…the man didn’t even punch me…he slapped me with his sleeve!_ He looked up slightly, finally noticing that the man slapped him with a sleeve instead of punching him was because the man was missing an arm.

 _This man! Even without one of his arm…he…!_ Suddenly being discouraged that he couldn’t even beat a crippled ‘old’ man, he began sulking in the corner.

The man turned the heat up higher and realised the boy was sulking, he sighed yet again. _If I sigh this much I’ll really be ageing faster._ After a few minutes of adding vegetables and potatoes to his soup, he took out two bowls from the kitchen cupboard and generously scooped the soup into both bowls before carrying them to the wooden table.

“Kid, come over here.” The man said. The boy didn’t budge from his corner of shame.

“I don’t have all day.” The man stated again. The boy still didn’t budge. The man’s eyebrow twitched and decided that he ain’t gonna wait around for some grouchy brat to do whatever he wants when he feels like it.

The man strode up to the depressingly shamed kid and picked him up by the shirt like a piece of paper. The man frowned at how legitimately light the boy was and noted down in his head to force the kid to at least grow ten more kilograms of body weight.

“Let me go!” The boy ineffectively struggled in what seemed like a death grip. The man ignored the protests and plonked him down in a seat at the table. The man himself then proceeded to sit opposite of the grumpy kid.

“Eat.”

The boy looked down at the bowl of soup. It looked plain, with only carrots, cabbage and potatoes. He looked at it in slight disappointment, as he could steal food way better than this. Instead of eating it, he diverted his gaze and looked sideways. Though he was hungry, he wasn’t going to eat stuff made by this guy who punched and ‘kidnapped’ him. He twiddled his fingers to control himself from lashing out at the unappetising soup.

“Fine then. I guess I’ll be getting a good fill today.” The man reached out to grab the bowl, but just before he touched it, the boy’s stomach let out a loud grumble. The boy bit his bottom lip in embarrassment.

 _Nope. Control myself…control…_ the boy gazed at the soup. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad? _Noooppee! Not going to touch it, not going to touch it, not going to-_ His stomach let out another grumble, as if complaining to him that he was being an idiot of rejecting free food. This was the underground. Free food was a luxury.

 _Screw you stomach!_ Just before the man fully dragged the bowl of bland soup to his side, the boy snatched it back and brought the bowl to his mouth. He vacuumed the soup up, which surprised the man that the boy had a sudden change of mind.

The expression of the man turned into a gentle smile. He rested his head on his hand and watched the boy gobble the soup down like a ravenous wolf.

Though it was plain and bland, the boy didn’t complain. He has never tasted something like the soup before. Even though he has stolen food way better, he has never tasted something that genuinely taste so heart-warming, something that was made with care.

When he finished, he placed the bowl down gently.

“Do you want seconds?” The man asked.

The boy hesitated for a bit, “…What are…seconds?” He looked up at the man in confusion.

The man was taken aback by the boy’s question. What many people would usually know and say unconsciously was being asked for a definition.

A spark of innovation flicked in the man’s mind. _I WILL DEFINITELY FEED YOU WELL WITH MY SOUP! Just you wait!_ He calmed his inner self down and answered the boy’s question. “It’s another way of saying ‘do you want another bowl of soup’.”

The boy’s eyes showed off small sparkles. “A-another s-serve?” He mumbled to the man in awe. He seemed to have forgotten about his previous episode of shame.

“Yep.”

“T-then c-can I-I?” He asked, still unsure if the man was joking or not.

“Of course. Give me your bowl.”

The boy eagerly gave him the bowl and keenly waited for the second bowl of bland but delicious soup. When the man returned with the second bowl, he placed it in front of the kid and watched him devour the soup within seconds.

When the boy was done with his second serve, he was finally filled up. The man later started eating his own bowl of soup, reluctantly giving the boy a spoonful or two when he stared at it like some kid at a candy store staring at all the marvellous candy.

That night when the man tucked the boy to bed, and was going to leave, he found out that the boy had a slight fever. Once, the boy was burning so hot that he contemplated on whether or not to go find a doctor. As he was going to leave, the boy reached out and grabbed his sleeve, pleading him to not leave his side.

“Please…don’t leave…me…alone…” He said in such a sad, heartbroken way the man’s own heart twinged and decided to stay by the sick boy’s side.

The man ran his hand through the boy’s long unkempt hair, which was relatively clean and soft. Every so often, when the boy would whimper out in pain, the man would simply pat the boy to calm him down. Never did the man notice that during the time when the boy’s fever was running so high it would be considered to be fatal, the boy let out a single tear.

The boy thought about how much pain he’s been through all this time; stealing, running and hiding with his life on the line, yet he’s never experienced this type of pain ever before. But other than that, he was also thinking about the reassuring warmth that he felt whenever the man gently stroked his forehead. He was glad that the man was there beside him when he asked him to stay.

After the boy fell asleep, the man made sure he was warmly wrapped up before quietly leaving the room and heading off to bed himself. He was quite fatigued after all of what happened today.

 _Maybe…maybe I was too rough on him?_ He thought as he walked into his room. _Even if he reminds me of captain…well…he’s still a kid._ He fell back onto his bed and covered his face with the back of his hand then sighed. He had lost himself in different thoughts that were stored away in his brain from last night and the nights before that. After each time he’s thought about them, he always came to one conclusion.

_What should I do?_

1

**Ps. Pls excuse any mistakes!**


	3. Part 2

When the man woke up early in the morning to check on the boy who ran a frighteningly high fever the day before, he found him sleeping soundly. Surprisingly, the boy’s fever went down during the night to being completely normal.

The man heaved a relieved sigh and walked back out of the room. _Thank goodness that fever went down…if it didn’t…_ He shook the disturbing thoughts out of his head and walked into the kitchen. He opened the cupboard and looked inside. Bread, butter, some vegetables and some more bread.

“Toast for breakfast then…” The man exhaled with slight elation. Other than the bland soup, toast was his speciality, probably because those are the only things he could cook without destroying a pot, setting something on fire or give someone diarrhoea by accident.

Meanwhile, in the other room, the boy coincidently woke up just as the man left to make breakfast. The first thoughts that rushed into him when he woke up was _where am I?!_ But when he realised that the room looked vaguely familiar, and that he had felt this ‘extravagant’ warmth before, he remembered that he was in this crippled man’s residence.

Then he remembered what happened last night, how he was running a sickly high fever and acted like a spoilt child, forcing the man to stay beside him. And how weak he was before the crippled man.

“…” He laid on the bed awake for a few moments, processing all the different thoughts that all came rushing into his head. _Maybe I should go back to my house…but it’s lonely…_ He tumbled out of bed and quietly strolled to the kitchen where he attempted to kill the man the day before.

The man heard faint shuffles and turned around. “Feeling better now?” he asked with a gentle smile. _Ahh, at least he’s well enough to walk._ Satisfied that the boy was well, he went back to toasting the bread.

The boy slightly jumped by the casual affection that the man showed towards him so easily. To him, the world was ruthless, kill or be killed, steal or get stolen from. But when he was with this man, all of those rules seemed to just stop existing. His keen green-blue eyes seemed to glow nostalgia, and his smile gave him a glimpse of a better outlook for future.

“Hey, if you have nowhere to go, you can stay here.” The man suddenly offered. He flipped the bread onto a plate and placed a chunk of butter onto it.

“…I-I have a home…” The boy stuttered. Was this going to be his last moments before going back into the hellhole?

“Well, do you have anyone living with you?” He asked, starting to toast another piece of bread.

“…after mother died, my u-uncle came...” The boy disliked his uncle. Most of the time, he wouldn’t come, but when he did, he always came home with the stink of alcohol wafting out from him, indicating that he was drunk. He would abuse the boy for no reason, kicking, punching, stepping and choking him when he felt like it. At that time, he thought it was normal for him to get abused like that, but now, after meeting this man…he’s beginning to think that _maybe_ his uncle’s excruciating actions weren’t normal.

The man looked at the boy’s face comprehensively to make out his expressions. Angry? Sad? Or maybe it was resentment? The boy’s face muscle and finger twitched ever so slightly, but the man saw it all.

“So…I’m guessing this uncle of yours is pretty much up to no good.” He affirmed with a chuckle. He turned around to face away from the boy. Even though he said this as a simple statement, his face was contorted into a bone-chilling scowl with eyes raging with immense hostility and his knuckles turned white from clenching his fist so strongly. _Kenny that asshole…if I ever see that bastard again…_

The boy gave a slight nod. Sometimes when his uncle went overboard with all the hitting, he could feel this intense pressure on his chest, namely his heart, and he could feel his face distort into a scowl. He wondered what that feeling meant…

“There!” The man flipped the cooked toast onto another plate and placed a chunk of butter onto it. “Breakfast is ready.” He turned off the gas and placed the cooking pan into the sink, then walked over to the table placing down the two plates of toast with butter melting over the top.

“Come eat.” He said, whilst sinking a bite into the toast. The toast made a soft crunch when he bit into it.

The boy looked at him with slight reluctance, not because he was afraid of the man, but more because he has never been in situations where people invite him to eat food. He lowered his gaze and grabbed the hem of the shirt that went down to his knees which the man lent him.

“I won’t bite. Eat the toast before the butter hardens, trust me, melted butter on toast is really good.” He implied, taking another bite from the toast.

Seeing that the toast with butter melted onto it did look appetising and the smell of savoury, rich and tantalising butter did make his stomach yearn for it, he walked towards the table. He proceeded to push himself up the chair and plop onto it with legs dangling over the edge.

He looked down at the glowing golden toast which almost looked holy to him. Before he reached out to grab it, he suddenly remembered how he was here, getting to experience all this with the oddly kind crippled man.

The man somehow always manage to notice the slightest change of atmosphere around the boy; it changed from eagerness to contemplation. “What’s wrong? Are you not hungry?” He asked, yet again taking a few more bites out of the toast.

“…N-No…” The boy fiddled with his fingers and decided that it was now or never, whether or not the man will get mad at him for asking the question and kicking him out of his house.

“Then what’s wrong? You can tell me.” The man grinned in a reassuring way, signalling to the boy that he wasn’t hostile in any way.

With slight reassurance and mustered up his courage. “Why did you stop me back then?...Why did you have to punch me…” he said as consistent as he could with the little confidence he has. He can see the future playing out in his head: The man drops his bread and his face contorts with anger, saying that the boy is being ungrateful that he was asking about why he was stopped. He stands up and walks across picking him up and flinging him out the door, telling him to never come back…

The man’s voice brings him back to reality. “Hmm? First of all, you shouldn’t be killing scum like him. He doesn’t deserve to die by your hands, your hands contain way more potential than his life.” He paused for a moment to eat the last piece of toast. The boy’s eyes widened with shock, unable to register the indirect compliment.

“And also…well, according to…someone’s…steadfast principle, pain is the most effective discipline.”

The boy could simply nod. His expectations were completely smashed by the man’s genuinely calm reply. But what the man did after surprised and confused him more.

The man slightly narrowed his eyes and looked at him with tenderness, as if he was seeing nostalgic. No, the boy felt that the man wasn’t looking at him…but something or someone else. He knows that the man was looking straight at him, but the man was looking at something deeper, something the boy couldn’t explain.

The man seemed to notice that he was making a weird face whilst staring at the confused child. He straightened himself up and stood up, taking the plate to the sink. “If you’re not going to eat that toast, I’m going to steal it off your plate!” He advised.

The child slightly jumped when he remembered that he hasn’t touched toast yet and began attacking it when the man said he was going to eat, and just as he said, the toast was delicious.

* * *

 

The boy was wiping the last of the dishes with a cloth that the man assigned him to use. He showed the boy how to wipe dishes; clasp either edge of the plate or bowl and slowly work your way around, then wiping the middle and back. The boy was a quick learner and soon got the gist. He made sure to wipe all of them spotless without any specks in sight.

“Wow! You sure wiped those plates clean. I think I’ve never seen them so shiny before.” The man exclaimed. He ruffled the boy’s hair and smiled.

“…hn…” He didn’t know how to reply, so he simply stood there and looked at the plate. The man walked off, sitting on the couch and began reading the most recent newspaper he received.

The boy paused for a bit and placed the things in his hand down on the bench. _W-what was t-that?_ He slid his hand onto his head where the man ruffled him and felt a warm, fuzzy feeling rising in his chest. He kept on replaying the feeling over and over in his thoughts until it got too vague to make out. That feeling…it felt alien to him, but that didn’t mean that it felt bad. He couldn’t describe how it felt like, but all he knew was that he would do anything to feel that happy, warm and fuzzy feeling again.

2

* * *

 

During the next few days, the man taught the boy different manners: saying good morning and good evening at the right times, table manners and overall manners when going outside. The boy complied with most of the things the man taught him, doing them the best he can.

“When you wake up in the morning, say ‘good morning’. When you see someone when you go outside in the early hours, say ‘good morning’ to them too.” The man explained. He explained how to greet people when it’s late at night too.

3

4

And the bland, frugal soup he ate on the first day that he arrived was eaten on the next day and the days after too, and always went back for more. Sometimes, the soup didn’t have vegetables, but he still happily consumed it and went back for seconds.

5

6

When the house was looking a bit run down and not as clean, the man took the chance to teach the boy how clean properly. He first let the boy clean by himself…and it shocked the man how terrible he was at cleaning.

“Redo this entire room.” Was the man’s first words when he touched the corners of the room and had a fine layer of dust stuck onto it. “You have to sweep along the walls first, and whilst sweeping the corners, do not sweep in an arc. The dust will obviously still be there.” He continued explaining. “Start dusting the room from the top, and when you wipe anything, wring the towel as dry as possible, as wet towels will leave behind droplet stains. When sweeping the floor, sweep along the grain of the wood. Remember to wipe the legs of all the table and chairs too, also…”

The boy spaced out half way and was his mind was probably floating off to somewhere else. His response was on automatic mode and was answering “yes…yes…yep” to everything.

The man was uptight with his morale and wasn’t going to have a boy doing half-assed cleaning in his house. The man used his sleeve once again and slapped the boy’s head.

“OOW!” The boy kneeled onto the floor and silently whimpered in pain. _T-that sleeve attack again!_

“Now…let me say all that again…and this time you should listen.” The man stood over the boy, giving him the power of dominance.

The boy receded into the ground, wanting to simply disappear into a hole and hide.

* * *

 

After redoing the entire room which took almost 2 hours, it finally looked nice and clean again. The room practically let out sparkles. The boy seemed to have a satisfied feeling when he looked at the room that he used effort to clean. He continued to stare at the room with awe and pride until the man patted him on the head.

“You did a great job! The rooms clean now.” He then continued to ruffle the boys head. “Remember that feeling when you get after you clean. It’s always nice.”

The boy smiled warmly with his heart. He was happy that the man ruffled his hair again. The man also praised him for how well he’s done. His uncle and his mother never uttered a praising word to him, only ordering him around and telling him off to do more work.

But this man that coincidently picked him up from the filthy backdrop of the underground is showing him more affections than he’s received in his whole life in a matter of a few words.

7

8

9

Other than teaching the boy housework and manners, he also taught the boy proper self-defense and combat.

The man would take the boy to a more remote area, just on the outskirts of the underground where there was an opening in the ceiling, letting natural light illuminate the environment.

Time after time, the boy showed major improvement in skills and technique, but compared to the crippled man, he was a small bug. After 33 showdowns, the boy still kept his position as the ‘ground hugger’.

The boy was sent flying with a loud _thud_ and skidded across the ground covered in dirt and scratches.

He simply laid on the grass, completely defeated yet again and looked up at the small patch of sky viewable from the underground. _He’s missing an arm and he still beats me like I am a leaf in the wind! I was sure that I was going to hit him this time!_

“Thirty-three fights, scores are zero to thirty-three. Guess I don’t need to do the dishes today either.” The man said with an exhale.

The boy pushed himself up and charged towards the man, hoping to catch him off guard, but the same as always, the man is never off guard. He tapped the boy’s forehead when he came rushing like a raging bull and pushed him off balance, earning the boy another reason for being the ‘ground hugger’.

“Thirty-four fights, zero to-“

“That doesn’t count! I-I was just seeing if I could land a punch on you…”

“Don’t want to admit you lost?” The man said with a chuckle. It was cute seeing a boy trying to reason for not wanting to lose.

“N-no!” He looked down and blushed in embarrassment.

Seeing that the boy was all dirty and scratched up, he decided that they would end their training today. He helped the boy up and headed back home.

“Hey, you know, you would better with short hair and an undercut.” The man said out of blue.

“Hmm?”

“Well, your hair is pretty long…” The boy’s hair was certainly long, as it reached below the shoulders. “But first, go take a shower!” He pushed the boy into the bathroom, closed the door and sighed. _Am I doing this right?_ He asked himself. He stood in front of the closed bathroom door and stared at it for a while, contemplating if he was opening his heart to the boy too much. If he was being too carefree about everything.

The man listened to the sound of running water in the background and slowly unpacked a portion of his thoughts. His face became sullen when he came across new doubts and worries.

 _…What if he leaves me again…? I don’t want to be left alone. If my friends were here they would probably yell at me for being such a worry wart. ‘Get your shit together!’ would be what they are yelling at me right now. …Though it would be actually nice if they could come here to yell that to me right now._ The man let out a small melancholic laugh.

_But that’s impossible, right?_

“I’m done!” The boy’s muffled voice rang from inside the bathroom. The door opened and he stepped out wearing another big baggy t-shirt lent to him by the man. “I’ll put this in the washing basket.” He indicated to the dirty clothes he was holding.

The man pulled himself back together and returned to being his cheery self. “Okay. I’m going to shower now.” He took a glimpse of the clock that hung down the corridor. “It’s getting pretty late. Go get dinner from the pot if you want.”

The boy eagerly went off to the kitchen with a ‘hmm’ after receiving the signal that he could eat. After all the training he received, he was definitely feeling ravenous.

10


	4. Part 3

11

12

13

14

Over the many days that they have spent together, the boy slowly but surely began opening up to the man. Other than speaking more and becoming more independent with his thoughts, he also began taking over some of the jobs that he finds easy to do.

The boy knocked on the door to the man's office. "I've poured the soup into bowls! You can come eat now."

The man who was in the middle of writing something on a piece of paper leaned back on his chair and placed his pen down. "'Kay! I'll come in a sec." He replied. He stood up and folded the piece of paper in half before leaving his room for dinner.

He walked into the kitchen and sat down opposite of the boy, who was diligently waiting for him. "You sure like doing housework don't you." He stated with an amused tone. The boy began liking the habit of cleaning the house that he did it every day. He also had a continuous streak of losing to the man each time they had a combat lesson, so he was the one doing all the dishes.

"…is it bad to like housework?" The boy questioned.

The man sighed.  _Ahh…such ignorance._ "Not at all." He answered. He plopped a spoon of soup into his mouth and favourably ate the rest in peace. The boy followed his example and ate his too, but grabbed another serving after he finished the first.

When the boy finished his second serving, he stood up and walked across the room towards the sink, grabbing the man's bowl on the way. There wasn't much to wash, just an empty pot, two bowls and two spoons. He quickly finished his job and wiped the dishes dry before placing them gently into the cupboard again.

"Do you want water?" The boy asked. He was quite thirsty himself.

"Nup, it's fine. I'm going to brew some tea today." Tea was something that he rarely had, because 1: tea was very rare in the underground, and 2: the last time he tried to make tea he burnt his hand with scalding hot water  _…because it reminded me of the time I spent with him…_ and the hand that was holding the kettle slipped.

"Tea?" Yet again something else that the boy hasn't heard of that would be common knowledge to others.

The man faltered in his steps and stopped midway to the kitchen bench. He stood taunt for a moment but swiftly regained his original composure and strode to the bench.

"It's dried leaves where you steep it in boiled water. Come here, and I'll teach you how to properly brew tea." He opened an overhead cupboard and took a black rectangular canister that read ' _Centinaio Black tea_ ' in golden letters. Then reached upwards again and grabbed a teapot with two reusable fabric teabags.

The boy quickly scuttled beside the man and waited for the man's new lesson on 'How to properly brew tea'.

"First of all," the man grabbed the kettle and filled it up with water, then placed it onto the stove before turning on the gas. "You've gotta have boiled water. I'll be making black tea today, and to make the best tasting black tea, the water needs to be at its hottest."

Whilst the man was waiting for the water to reach boiling point, he placed some tea leaves from the container into the two fabric tea bags. The man told the boy to pass him the kettle when the water has fully boiled, and when it did, he passed him the kettle of boiling water from the stove.

"To maintain the water temperature during steeping, the teacup needs to be pre-warmed as that will slow down the water temperature dropping." He poured some hot water into the cup and waited for a few moments before pouring it back out. "Feel the cup." He suggested to the boy.

The boy wrapped his hands around the cups, and noted that the cups were warm.

"Since the cup is nice and warm now, we can start steeping the tea." He plopped a tea bag in each of the cups and poured boiling water over it. "To make sure the water stays hot, we wrap a towel around it for insulation."

Throughout his explanation, the boy watched him with respect and attention. He was showing an abnormal amount of tranquillity in the dread of the underground, also being calm enough to spare a little time to show a little boy he picked up off a street how to properly make tea.

"As it is black tea, it'll need to soak for 3-5 minutes." He told the boy. He casually walked to a chair and sat down. "I'll give the timekeeper job to you. Call me when it's time." The man leaned back comfortably and pulled out a newspaper, putting his complete trust into the boy. Sometimes putting a little trust in others can make them believe in themselves more. He smiles gently as the thoughts flowed through his mind.  _Ahh~ the good times back then._

"Okay. I'll call you when it's ready." The boy moved towards the clock and counted every second that went by.  _45…46…47…_ all the way until he hit 240. Counting was also something that the man taught him over the past few days. The boy was amazingly fast to learn. The man also taught him how time and money worked, and the boy absorbed in the information like a sponge.

He walked over and poked the man in the arm. "The tea should be ready."

Placing the newspaper down, he stood up and walked over to the bench. He removed the teabags and unwrapped the towel from the cups. After placing all the used equipment away, he signalled the boy to come over to have a look.

The boy stared at the strange liquid in silence. "Eh…why is the water…black?" The boy asked.  _Is this sewage water?_ Confusion was written all over his face. "Is…this safe to drink?" He took a sniff of the odd drink.  _It doesn't smell bad…_ but he backed away slightly and raised an eyebrow, keeping a safe distance from it, just in case it explodes.

The man laughed in amusement. "I can definitely guarantee you that this is safe. It looks different from plain water because it has tea leaf particles in it."

The boy still wasn't convinced.  _Tea leaf particles? Sounds like the water's been contaminated._  He had learnt his lesson to not push his luck with unknown substances. He nearly got burnt to death by some strange chemical waste whilst he was taking a walk in the alleyways.

"Just take a sip and you'll know it's not rat poison."

The boy shot him an annoyed glare. "I'm not going to drink it unless I know it's completely safe. Drink it first." He ordered.

"Okay, okay." He said in defeat. He walked over to the table and placed one cup of tea in front each of them. "Watch carefully, because I'm definitely not going to shrivel up and die." It will take much more than tea to kill him.  _Much more._

~X~

 _"Hey captain, why do you drink_ that  _brand of black tea so much?" Eren asked when he saw the captain drinking the same, black tea out of the same black canister with gold writing the fifth time that day._

_Levi placed the teacup down and shot him an annoyed glare. "Does it concern you that I drink black tea this much? It's not rat poison, I can drink it as much as I like brat."_

_"O-okay…"_

_Levi picked the teacup up again and returned to his tea drinking routine. Eren did notice that the captain held the teacup different to everyone else. People would usually hold it by the handle, but he would instead place his fingers around the rim of the cup._

_Eren was going to ask about why he held the cup that way, but then he remembered that he still needed to clean the horse stables with stupid horse face. He also didn't want his captain to give him more cleaning duties for being nosy about his life, so he quickly hurried along._

_When he reached the stables and saw that Jean had already begun scooping, he laughed. "So ironic that their long lost relative has to shovel their poop for them. Shouldn't you be joining them instead?" he bantered._

_"OIIIII! You fucking bastard! What did you SAY?!" Jean immediately retaliated by flinging horse waste towards him. "Stop moving your frikkin ass and let me hit you!"_

_"No way my ass am I stopping! I don't want shit all over me! I definitely DON'T want Captain to give me extra cleaning duty because of you!"_

_The two rivalled friends continued playing their little game till jean had no more ammo to launch, and when they came to realise that the stables had become even dirtier than it started off as._

_They immediately started cleaning in a frenzy, breaking out into fights once in awhile, but just before sundown, they were able to clean the stables to 'Levi standards'. They were able to go to bed with their dinner and supper without incurring the wrath of any of their seniors._

~X~

Yet again, the man was lying in his bed contemplating about something else. This time, the boy's actions were on his mind. The boy was simply a brat he picked out off the street because he reminded him of someone else, but that was just a hunch. Even though he isn't sure if the boy was the person he's been looking for or not, he's beginning to grow emotionally and physically on him.

He was replaying the moment that happened just an hour ago, when he reassured the boy that black tea wasn't rat poison and was finally able to make the boy take a sip of it. He rethought about how the boy gingerly proceeded to grab the cup  _the same was as that person did_ ; fingers firmly clasping the edge of the cup, completely ignoring the handle.

After evaluating and pondering about the boy over the past few days, he wasn't exactly certain if he was the person the man thinks he is, but after the small incident that occurred today, he was pretty convinced.

_Tomorrow morning I'll do it._

15

* * *

 

During the many days he's spent with the man, the boy experienced things that he had never experienced before; warmth, happiness, audacity, the feeling of satisfaction and been able to completely relax. Even though many positive feelings have been added to his own little mind dictionary, it doesn't go without negative feelings either.

As the days pass, something else began stirring in the boy's mind.

_What if he leaves?_

It was another type of fear: fear of being left alone again in this horrible, ugly place to survive on his own.

The boy woke with a start. He was dreaming about something that made his spine shiver in distaste and fear, but he never seemed to remember what it was about after he woke up. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to sleep again, but it wasn't working. So instead, he climbed out of bed and walked out of his room.

 _It's quiet…_ so quiet that he could hear the faint ticking of the clock that hung in the hallway.

It was too quiet. The man's ambient breathing wasn't there. The surrounding walls seemed to feel dull, radiating a cold and empty aura.

His heartbeat sped up and he was starting to feel slightly desperate to know whether or not the man was still in the house. The first place he went was the man's bedroom.

It was empty and the bed was already made.

The boy paced to his study, and discovered that it was missing the man's presence too.

_Oh no…please…this isn't really happening is it?_

This time, he rushed to the kitchen and searched for anything that could be an armless man. His breathing quickened his hands started shaking.  _It's empty._ On the table rested a piece of paper with writing on it, but he didn't bother to look at it. Instead, he ran to the door and dashed outside and into the unsafe city.

He began running down the stairs from the house in two's, trying to ignore the sharp pain jabbing into the sole of his feet as he stepped on numerous small pebbles on the way down.

_W-where is he!_

He didn't care how far or long he had to run until he could find the man, he wouldn't even care if he had to run through chemical waste. In that sudden spur of the moment, he wanted to be with the man more than anything else. As long as he could find him and jump into his embrace, then he wouldn't mind what he would need to go through.

He tore down the streets, eyes peeled for his target. It was hard to see, as the lights had yet to be turned on.

He could feel immense fear bubbling away in the depths of his stomach. Worries clouded his mind and prevented him from thinking straight.  _What if I never see him again? What if…what if I'll never be able to find him?_ He had no idea how that in such a short amount of time he's spent with this cripple, he had already grown attached to him. He's spent even longer with his uncle and mother, yet he's never felt this way.

_Where are you?! P-please don't leave me alone!_

He was scared of going back to the way he used to be; being left completely and utterly alone. The only place where the anguishing loneliness didn't exist was in the proximity of the man, and that's what he's hoping to be right now.


	5. Part 4

**Hellooo!! Tis Bubblepop here!! I know it's been like ages since I transfered some chapters here, so I'll be mass uploading today~**

**Pls don’t hesitate to comment! I’ll accept anything from critique’s to very off topic ones~**

**Here’s the next installation to the story…get comfortable, grab the popcorn (if you have any), drag ur buddies if any are around and start reading!**

* * *

 

It was still very early in the morning and the musty smell of midnight pub parties was still blowing around from midnight drinking fests. Only a few have awoken at such an early time in the morning, either to start their work or to do something they do not want others to see.

A masculine stature donned in a dark green cloak silently walked down an empty alleyway. It seemed that he was meeting up with someone, as there was another taller figure donned in a dark green cloak waiting at the end of the hidden street.

Except, the person who was waiting had something imprinted on the back of his cloak; interwoven feathers of blue and white.

The man who was already there shifted a little when he noticed the other man had arrived.

“You sure like waking up very early.” The man who was wearing the interwoven wings stated with a half-asleep voice. “I wanted to catch another few winks of sleep but then remembered that you requested a meet-up.” He complained. He has been waiting at the designated place for around five minutes.

“I wanted to give this to you with minimal people around.” The man that just arrived stated. He took out a letter from his cloak and handed it to the other.

The receiver looked at it with confusion. “Is that it? Did you call me all the way down here just to hand me a letter?” the taller figure complained. He flipped the letter back and forth to make sure there was nothing else other than the piece of paper.

“Psht. I’m not just simply giving you a letter, I’m giving you the humanity’s strongest. Everything about him is in the letter. Come back in 15 years’ time and find the person described in it.”

The other was taken slightly aback. “15 years’ time?! How the hell would you know that a man in the future would be use to us? How can you even describe him?” The taller man asked in bewilderment. He narrowed his eyes and looked doubtfully at the sender. “Is this a farce?”

“No, this is not a farce. I wouldn’t even have called you here if I wanted to prank the army. I would give it in myself.” He said. “Will you trust me?”

“… You are quite the inexplicable man.” The taller man studied the other’s mysterious smile. “You warned us about what titans could do, yet you say you’ve spent your entire lifetime in the underground. You shouldn’t even know what titans are, considering you should not even know what we are.” He quietly accepted the letter and slid it into his pocket.

There was a moment of silence until the taller man broke it. “Who are you really? You’re not telling us the truth about your identity are you?”

The man who gave the letter chuckled lightly. “You wouldn’t understand if I told you.”

The other pressed his lips together in frustration.

“…And the future headquarters might go into haywire if they knew anything true about me. It’s better for my existence to stay in the dark for the moment.” The figure in the completely dark green cloak turned around and walked out of the alleyway, believing that his job was now done.

“Will we ever get to know who you really are?”

The dark green-cloaked figure didn’t turn around. He simply smiled to himself and waved to the other, as if trying to gesture ‘who knows’.

The other man flinched with annoyance. “Tch. Keeping your identity in the dark will only give people who are close to you suffering.” He took something out from underneath his cloak then slid his fingers through two trigger guards of the object. By pressing down on the two triggers, firing grappling hooks towards a nearby building before zipping away in a stream of gas propellant and a smear of dark green.

The man standing down below watched silently as the other travelled further into the distance. He was filled with anguished nostalgia that seemed to grow in size every time he encountered those people. It almost looked like he was a bird that had lost his wings. Heaving a deep sigh, he began walking again-

Then all of a sudden, he felt something ram into his back like a small rampaging elephant. He nearly toppled over onto his face from the power of impact, but caught himself just in time before he lost his balance completely.

Letting out a muted groaning of complaint, he stopped his walking and looked over his shoulder.

Ergh my back is too old for this! He lamented. He arching his neck to get a clearer look of what rammed into him at such an odd time of the day and place. From his point of view, all he could see was a head covered in semi-long raven black hair.

“Oh. It’s just you.”

The child that ran into him looked up blearily with steel grey eyes that somewhat expressed relief, anger, fatigue and many other surfacing emotions.

“What are you doing out here so early?” The man in the dark green cloak asked.

The boy remained silent for a while to catch his breath than quietly answered. “I-I was looking all over for you…I-I was…” scared that you left me for good. However, he could not say that in front of the man, because 1) He was too embarrassed to say it and 2) Even as a 6-year-old boy he had a strong sense of self-dignity. All he could do was let some colour rush to his face and clutch the man tighter.

It was obvious that the boy was acting shy. The man pulled down his hood, revealing that he was trying to hold in a laugh by biting his lower lip. Awww so cute!  He let out a small “Pfffft-” and when he could not hold in his amusement any longer, he let it all out.

“Ahhahaahaa!” He pulled the boy into a bigger hug and laughed into his hair. “Ahhh~ I’m not going to fall down some well and die when you’re not looking. I’m surprised that you could even recognise me in this.” He huffed out. “Didn’t you see the note I left on the table? I wrote that I was going to go out for a little while and come back, nothing major enough for you to come running after me.”

 “I didn’t know it was a note from you.” The boy answered shakily. “I can’t read anyway.”

“. . .” He can’t read…The man mentally face palmed. “Ah.” I forgot that I haven’t taught him that yet.

He pulled off his cloak and pushed it over the boy in newfound triumph.

Being suddenly lost in the bundle of cloak that the man threw onto him, he thrashed his arm around until the cloak somehow managed to slip itself around him. He gazed up and saw a pair of gentle green-blue eyes that glistened with energy looking down at him. He was still slightly shaking from his panic ordeal.

“Let’s go.” He said cheerfully. He carefully peeled away the warm embrace and sucked in a deep breath.

“Wha-? T-to where?” The boy suddenly started to feel distressed again. Was the man trying to shake him away again?

“Change of plans! Instead of shopping today, I’m going to teach you how to read and write.” He bent down and did a stretch. His body was still quite stiff due to how early he woke up.

Whilst doing that, he noticed that the boy was not wearing any shoes. Fresh scratches and cuts covered his feet and legs. How is he not feeling the pain? Well, he did live in quite a severe environment before…He kept quiet about his discovery and straightened up, cracking a few joints in the process. When I get home, I have to bandage his leg up before it gets infected.

The boy didn’t want to be separated from the man anytime soon, especially after he found him, so he asked the man for reassurance. “…We’re definitely going home right…”

“Yes. We’re going straight home.” He reassured. He started walking down the street when the boy spoke up.

“Crippled old man…” He began.

A vein prominently popped. Crippled? Old? This little bastard…

“Good morning.” He hastily added on before the man thought he was trying to insult him. He used all his mental power to ignore the fact that calling the man ‘crippled’ and ‘old’ might make him angry. He had finally told the man the phrase he wanted to say to him ever since he woke up.

Calling him ‘crippled’ and ‘old’ was some sort of punishment for making him run down the dirty streets bare-footed very early in the morning.

The man stopped walking then turned around to study the boy’s face. He sure likes offending people.

The boy shrunk back slightly. He was scared that the man was going to hit him for comparing him to an old grandpa, but instead, the man reached out and gently patted his head. He continued ruffled the boy’s already tousled hair.

The man unfurrowed his eyebrows and let out a bemused smile. “Good morning.” He said. After being satisfied with all the hair ruffling (revenge for calling him ‘crippled’ and ‘old’), he dropped his hand and started walking again.

The shops that usually open early have just begun to set up and the usual early rises of the underground were beginning to fill the street. The man waved a few ‘hello’s and ‘good morning’s to the occasional people who walked passed. The boy gingerly tried copying the man’s actions by doing small waves with his hand and whispering greetings.

The boy’s puny greetings didn’t go unnoticed by the man. “You’ve got to properly wave. They’ll think you're some weak and shy brat or something.” He leaned down and whispered. “Put some muscle into it. Like this.” He gave a strong but simple wave to a lady that happened to walk by. The lady smiled and waved back with a slight blush spreading across her face.

The boy looked up in annoyance. “Tch. I’m not trying to be a Lady swooner like you.”

The man did not hesitate to bonk the boy hard on the head with a clenched fist. “Oi. If you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say it.” I bet you're going to be a way bigger lady swooner when you grow up. “Come on, let’s get going.” He quickened his pace, leaving the boy stumbling behind.

The walk home was peaceful; no robbers or kidnappers appeared to taunt them. The house finally came into sight after a quite a couple minutes of brisk walking. The boy was now pretty reassured that the man was not going to leave him alone on the streets and disappear.

As the boy caught up to the man, he experienced a scene that he had grown used to over the day’s he has spent with him. The empty left sleeve fluttering in front of his eyes, the cottony stiff texture of the fabric that he felt when he grasped it and the gentle glance of green-blue from above. That was his entire world.

“When are you going to let go of my sleeve. I can’t move when you’re anchoring me in the middle of the street.”

“O-oh.” The boy quickly lets go of the piece of fabric, which he has been squeezing the life out of.

The man let out one of his signature sigh/chuckles, and scooped the boy up and slung him over his shoulder.

The sudden feeling of being in the air surprised the boy. “What are you d-doing!” He squirmed around, disliking the fact that his feet were not firmly onto the ground.

“Carrying you. Your legs are going to be a pain to clean up if they get any more dirt on them.” He stated flatly.

Oh. The boy hasn’t actually realised how scathed his legs were until the man mentioned it. And since he’s now aware if his injuries, they actually started to hurt like hell.

The man could feel the boy stiffening in his grasp. “Starting to feel it now?”

The boy could only respond with a small whimper through all the pain waves he is receiving from every single cut on his legs. The pain quickly changed to an immense burning sensation that seemed to flow through his body like poison. He bit his bottom lip to stop the pain from getting to him but it wasn’t exactly working.

“Heh. I was wondering how you couldn’t feel all those scratches.” The man strode up the stairs in threes and quickly made his way inside the house to plonk the boy on a chair. He dug around a cupboard and found some disinfectant and bandages. He also wetted a paper towel to wipe off the dirt on the boy’s legs.

“This is going to sting. Now…try and hold still…”

When he placed the wet towel on the boy’s leg…well…let us just say the man’s eardrums nearly broke.

After what seemed like eons of the boy screaming out in pain and the man struggling to bandage the squirming boy with one arm, it was finally done. The pain from the boy’s cuts soon faded and was ready and back in action. He started his daily clean of the house as soon as he could walk without wincing.

For the rest of the day, the man taught the boy how to read and write. Reading was easy, as the boy could read most of the common words such as ‘bread’, ‘food’, ‘army’ etc. The boy read most of the newspaper articles with a few mistakes and stammers.  The man decided that he‘d go buy some books later on for the boy to increase his vocabulary.

When it came to writing, the man could only describe the boy’s writing as ‘utterly horrible’.

“Rewrite that sentence. Write in between the lines will you.” The man said with a bored tone. “Your letter are ugly.”

“Earghhh.” No need to rub it in. The boy groaned in complaint. “My hands are sore.”

“You can only rest until I’m satisfied. Here. Let me write out the sentence again on another piece of paper.” He took the pen from the boy and wrote out a sentence in his distinct writing; a small flick at the end of each letter and slightly slanting to the left.

They boy huffed a sigh and continued writing out another few pages of ugly writing before the man decided that they’ll continue it tomorrow.

16

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**;P**

 


	6. Part 5

**If you haven't watched "A Choice With No Regrets," (It's about how Levi came to join the survey corps and stuff) then please be warned this chapter contains _small_ reference to it. Pls watch if you haven't! (psst Farlan is my favourite character from it other than Levi XDD).**

***Home is where the heart is* (just a hint for the story XD )**

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17

18

19

20

21

Pitter patter –

It was raining. It didn't usually rain, but today was one of those calm rainy days. Drops of water drummed onto the ground steadily, quickly forming muddy puddles in dents and ditches. The sky was smouldered in a grey haze of rain clouds which made everything underneath it look duller than usual. The fresh smell of rain and sodden earth breezed around over the lands once again after weeks of being repressed.

But all of that raining and puddling didn't make a big difference to the people who lived in the underground. They couldn't see the obscured sky. They don't get to feel pouring rain pounding down on their shoulders and faces, nor the feeling of raindrops trickling through their hair or sliding down the curves of their face.

The boy peeped through the doorframe that led into the man's sleeping quarters. He woke up early today due to the fact that the old man introduced a new thing to him the day before, and it oddly interested him very much. He was very eager to learn more about the object with gas propellants and weird fireable grappling hooks. Every groove his finger slid over made his breath catch in his chest with anticipation.

The boy sprinted towards the man's bed and jumped on, shaking the man when he regained balanced.

"Hey! Old man, wake up!" He yelled as loud as he could without disturbing the neighbours. "Keep teaching me what you started yesterday!" He shook the man again with extra force but all the man did was make a small grunt of disproval.

"Nee~!"

The man groaned, other than that, no signs of fully waking up.

"I want to try the … 3DMG today."

The man let out another small grunt and turned over. "Mmm…" The man was vaguely awake enough to hear the boy's nags.

The boy leaned over the man and looked down at his face.  _…He's actually not an old man…_  His hair was a ruffled mess, unlike his normal state where his hair was groomed back. For some reason, the ruffled, unflattened hair takes quite a few years off the man's appearance.

The boy had a sudden urge to run his hand through the man's hair. It had always been the man who got to ruffle his hair, and now he wanted to have a turn too. But before the boy could reach out, the man outstretched his arms and tugged him down towards the bed with a loud 'Flop'.

"Uwaah! MMFFFF!" The boy shouted in distress whilst writhing around trying to get his face out of the man's pillow before he could suffocate.

"Mmm…shush…it's raining today, so no training. We can sleep a bit longer." The man's muffled voice rang out.

The boy was able to partially wriggle out of the man's heavy arms and take a long restrained breath. "Puwah! …it doesn't make a difference down here if it's raining or not." He mumbled, then flopped his head back down on the man's chest.

For a moment, all they did was listen to each other's even breathing, until the man broke the silence.

"One day…" The man began. "One day the scouting corps will come for you." He said louder.

The boy lifted his head slightly off the man's chest and looked at his resting face. "Ha?"  _What is this old man bringing up all of a sudden?_

"There will be interwoven wings of white and blue…and a blond hair man with crazy eyebrows." He continued.

"…"  _Man with crazy eyebrows?_ "I'm not going to some scouting corps…I'm going to stay here with you." The boy said with a defensive tone.

The man let out a small huffed chuckle. "That won't be bad either, but this place is way too small for someone like you." He pulled the blanket over them. "When you enter the scouting corps, take a really good look at the world. It's bigger than you can ever imagine."

"…really?..." The boy was already drifting back to sleep even though he was jumping on the man energetically moments before. He tried to match the man's breathing with his own. "…Is it really that big?"

It took a while before the man replied, but when he did, it was a genuine answer. "Yes. It is."

22

23

24

~X~

_Eren was tossing and turning in bed restlessly, completely unable to sleep. The bed was uncomfortable, it was hard against his back and he was sure that he's going to get a sore one tomorrow. He understood that the people around him regarded him as huge, mutant monster, but can't they at least make the bed he sleeps in sleepable?_

_Then, he heard audible footsteps. At first, he thought it was just the sound of people walking around upstairs, but when he fully tuned in to the steps, they were undoubtedly getting nearer. The strides were brisk and precise, belonging to someone who doesn't like wasting time._

_The person who made these footsteps stopped right in front of his little basement cell. Eren rolled up and twisted his head to see who was visiting at such time._

_It was Captain Levi. That made Eren jump out of his skin. He quickly sat up, flinging his blankets everywhere in the progress._

_Eren quickly went into thinking overdrive._ Is he mad at me? Did I forget something? Oh shit oh shit oh shitttt-

_"Brat I'm not here to frikkin spank you. Here." He said completely unfazed._

_As Eren was struggling the instant he saw Levi's undercut, he didn't see that he was holding a roll of portable mattress. Levi opened the cell door and threw the mattress towards Eren. "How do you even lie down on that shitty bed. It's fucking backbreaking."_

_Eren sat there in shock. Was Levi ever considerate towards his back health or bothered to give something comfortable to him?_

_Levi crossed his arms. "What are you doing. Hurry up. My butt bone nearly snapped off when I sat down on your bed."_

_"O-Oh!" Eren rushed off his bed, and in a blink, it was done. Levi raised an eyebrow at why he was being so fidgety._

_Eren stiffly sat down on his newly made bed, waiting for his Captain to point out something that he happened to do wrong. But that never came, instead Levi dragged a chair from across the room and sat on it._

_"Sleep." He ordered._

_Eren quietly complied._ What's he going to do? Oh no is he going to watch me fall asleep? Oh no oh no oh no-

_"I want to tell you about my past, brat. I'm doing this not because I want you to know, in fact, you need to know this." Levi started saying matter-of-factly._

_"O-ok…" Eren mechanically lowered his body into a sleeping position onto his softer bed. He pulled up the blankets and didn't dare move a hair._

_"I'm not going to frikkin kill you so re-lax." Levi stated. This time, Levi wasn't angry or annoyed. He had a tender expression on his face, almost as if he was looking at something that needed extreme care._

_Eren narrowed his eyes and observed his face._ Why's he looking at me like that…no…he's not looking at me… _it was almost as if he was looking at something else much further, something Eren wasn't able to explain. Eren shifted in his bed slightly, so that he could look at Levi without straining his neck._

_"I had a past that would probably be considered so coincidental, it all could have been a miracle." Levi started._

_"When you were er… a-"_

_"No, brat. This was before I became a famous underground thug. It was during a time when I was younger than you, before I even knew 3DMG existed."_

Woah…Captain must have been one of those cool gangy street kids when he was young…

_"I literally had to steal every day to survive, and all that was on my back was a thin, tattered old shirt." He paused a while so Eren could ask questions._

_"T-then how did you end up here today? I mean…if you only had that little…"_

_Levi remained silent for a while, unpacking his memories. "There was a man with green-blue eyes and no left arm. He's the reason why I'm here."_

_Eren thought he saw Captain's finger twitch ever so slightly…_

_"I had no idea how he managed to do it and pull through at the same time, but he brought me to his house and he fed me and gave me a place to properly live." Levi tilted his head back slightly and looked up. Eren remained quite so that he could continue his story._

_"He…he taught me many things…things that I should've known when I was that age. Thinking back about it, I was a really stubborn brat, but the man persisted." He paused to take in a breath._

_For some reason, he was finding it hard to get the story out of his mouth. He knew that if he didn't tell anyone, he would be burdening himself, which could make him concentrate on the weight pushing down on his shoulders rather than the task at hand._

_Although at the same time, he wanted to wrap his own little secret around himself like a blanket, a blanket that separates him from the harsh world without his home…_

_But Levi knew that it was his responsibility to and his duty to face the harsh reality. "Now that I've thought about that man again…he was quite a weird person."_

_"What do you mean by weird? Did he have this weird fetish or something?" Eren asked._

_Levi ignored Eren's far-out question. "He's weird…because he actually taught such a dirty brat like me so many things, progressively expanding and explaining the world of a kid he picked off the filthy streets."_

_"…" Eren laid there in apprehension._ So this was what made the captain I know today…I really want to meet the man who did it. He must have been a miracle guy or something for putting up with Captain.  _"So…where's he know?"_

_"H-he vanished." Levi muttered. "Who knows where he might be. Maybe he's around somewhere. Maybe he isn't."_

_Eren was going to say something else when he realised something. He was sure that his captain stuttered. Captain never stutters. His gaze drifted up and meeted Levi's._

_This time, he said something else in a quieter voice. "Or maybe…he's right by my side..."_

~X~

The man's eyes flickered open with a start. His breath briskly got caught in his throat but tugged free when he exhaled a rugged breath. He was going to sit up when he realised that the boy was lying on him, for how long he doesn't know, but one thing he does know was that he couldn't feel his legs.

He let out a soft groan then carefully peeled the boy away. Instead of stepping out of bed, he toppled out and landed on the floor with a muffled 'thud'. He felt painful tingles shoot up his spine when his tailbone came in contact with the floor.

"Ooooww…." He painfully pushed himself onto his feet to nearly stumble over again as he couldn't feel his legs…or more rather he had very intense pins and needles. A restrained howl of "Aooowwccchh!" was soon followed by further "Ow!"s each step he took.

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**Bubblepop32**

**Ps. Pls excuse any mistakes!**


	7. Part 6

**Now grab ur pro sunnies and put them on and read this chapter like a boass~**

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25~49

_… When I came to realise that I was no longer outside the walls, I was already somewhere unfamiliarly foreign. I found out that I was somehow in the Underground. The surrounding was radiating a repressed yet squirming animosity, as if any wrong moment would set it off. But then again I could barely move, the pain searing from my left side was overwhelmingly overpowering my ability of movement._

_I can still remember the awful pain that stayed in my system even after I mustered enough strength to stand up and walk around. Every movement was like pushing myself on needles. Even opening these memories after all these years, my left stump is starting to tingle with slight pain again._

_Maybe because it yearns to be a whole working arm again. Of course, at that time I knew that my arm would not grow back, yet I was still in denial, hoping that it will miraculously come back, but that was proven to be impossible before I was knocked unconscious and woke up in the Underground._

_What happened after I fell was all but a very distant blur. My friends, comrades…they all perished. Except maybe one survived. I was glad that I could help him, even if it was a small amount._

_But I don't have proof if he survived or not. That thought had haunted me ever since, even now._

_And me? I should have been long dead along with everyone else but for some reason, I believe, has-_

The man took a glimpse up and realised that the boy was suddenly hovering near the door wearing his cleaning outfit. "What are you writing?...You've been writing since this morning." The boy walked over to get a glimpse of what the man writing, but before he was dangerously close to getting a look, the man flipped the book shut.

He placed the pen down and straightened slightly. "Something that won't concern you…"  _until a lot later…_ He quickly slid the journal into the drawer of his table before briskly standing up. "What's the time?" he asked trying to change topic.

 _Hmm suspicious…_  the boy narrowed his eyes and eyed the drawer where the journal was hidden.

A sweat drop trickled down his forehead. "H-hey! Promise me you won't look. I trust you." He walked over and crouched in front of the boy, sticking out his pinkie finger. "Promise?"

The boy took a step back with uncertainty. He's never had someone make a promise with him before, nor has anyone put their trust in him. He didn't want anyone to put their trust in him either. He didn't want to make the promise. What if he fails him? What if he gives in?

"Come on. Just don't look in the book till you join the survey corps. Simple right?" He tried to give a reassuring smile.

The boy still didn't want to promise.  _I-it's ok…I'm sure he'll stop me if I do things wrong._ He reluctantly stuck out his own pinkie and wrapped it around the man's. "I-I promise…but only I-if you'll help…"

"Help you to not break your promise? How am I supposed to do that? A promise is a thing that already helps you to not do something that will break your promise…" he trailed off when he saw the boy's face change from reluctance to confusion. He smacked his lips then quickly changed the way he used to convey his message. "A-actually…Yeah, I'll help when you're in need."

The boy still didn't exactly trust himself. He wanted to keep as far away from the journal as he could. He a whispered "Thanks," then quickly darted away to whatever he was doing before.

The man sighed out.  _If this kid read what I wrote in that journal…he's going to think I'm weird…_  "Oh yeah! We're going out shopping after lunch! Don't get your head too into cleaning." He shouted loud enough so that the boy could hear from the other room. He stood up from the crouching position and walked back to his desk before sitting down again. A small reply of "un!" from the boy came through the kitchen a moment after.

For a moment, the man remained silent and listened to the faint wiping and dripping noises from afar. His eyes drooped at the nostalgic sound. After the boy's interruption, he didn't feel like writing in his journal anymore, so instead, he took out something else. Pulling out the drawer, he slid his hand over a pad of paper that was kept in there. In the haste of taking it out, he accidently knocked the table, causing everything on it to shake…including his favourite pen he used previously to write in his journal.

He suddenly sucked in a short anxious breath and reached out with his left arm, hoping he'll be able to grab it before it successfully rolls off the table.

He huffed out a small curse when he came to a late realisation that instead of his hand being safely wrapped around his favourite pen, his empty sleeve had barely made it in time to stop his pen's motion.

_Why the hell did I forget that my left arm was no longer there?_

He stared at the sleeve, half hoping that it will all of a sudden start talking and answer his question, but he knew that he was being an idiot. Was it because he was around the boy that he's not acting the way he 'usually' does? But then again, what was his 'usual' way of acting?

Was it the way he acted

before

or

after?

The man stayed in the uncomfortable position of having his sleeve draped on his pen which was hanging off the table and continued staring, thinking. It must be because of the boy… ever since he picked the vaguely familiar boy that he had a feeling he knew from somewhere, up from the streets, he's been acting more like his… 'previous self' … his self from quite some while ago.  _When I still had my left arm…_

After that tiny episode of self-evaluation, he forgot what he was going to write down on the pad of paper he took out. He put it back into his drawer and pushed it closed.

50

51

52

53

54

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"Nope! You are definitely coming shopping with me. Just relax." The man was literally chasing the boy around the house trying to get his arm around his collar. "I'm too old to chase you-"

"I-I don't want to go out! Especially near shops! What if…what if…" an image of the fat baker flew into his mind, except him holding a knife stained with his blood. The boy continued darting around the house, running away from the man who was trying to get him to socialise with the outside world.

The man stopped to catch a breather. "Just remember to not snatch, steal or kill. I'll stop you if you can't stop yourself." He huffed loudly. He started walking again, silently creeping up behind the boy.

"I-I can't possibly fit in…all I've seen my whole life were the bad, filthy backdrops of the underground-GAH!" He reminisced until the man picked him off the ground with one arm and started walking towards the door.

The man walked outside without pausing and placed the ruffled boy down. "It'll be different this time. Trust me." He turned around to lock the door and stepped down the stairs. "Come on. I locked the door so there's no way back in."

The boy stood there with annoyance written all over his face. "Hmph!" He trotted down the stairs in twos and ran after the man who was already disappearing down the road with his big strides. As he caught, he saw that the man's hair was smoothed back. He wondered why he did that. Did the man like looking old?

And so, the boy tried his very best to follow the basic rules that the man set for him to follow…and he's found that it had become easier to breathe. At first, he jumped every time he heard footsteps, whether or not they were coming towards him or going somewhere else. He clasped onto the man's sleeve so tightly that there were permanent wrinkles on it. After some really brain tiring pep talks given by the man, he's slightly beginning to ease up.

"Ok. So I gave the shop keeper five dollars, and the potatoes we brought were four dollars seventy, how much change should he be giving us?" The man asked the boy, slinging the sack of potatoes over his shoulder.

"Um…ah…wait a moment…" The boy stuck out his fingers and began counting his fingers slowly. After all, he was still quite new to handling money, as all he did previously was steal.

"Hurry up. We'll be here till dusk if you keep on counting that slow." The man teased. He could clearly make out the small wrinkles forming across his forehead as the boy began muddling up the numbers.

The old man who was the shop keeper smiled amusingly. "Ho ho! No need to rush~"

After what seemed like five minutes of trying to work out the change, the boy finally blurted out the answer. "He should be giving us thirty cents change!"

The shop keeper laughed and stook out some coins from his bag. "Ho ho~ I'll make it twenty cents cheaper for this little guy's effort!"

"What? Does that make our change even more or less?" He looked up distressingly at the man who was grinning like an idiot at how amusing this little brat could be. The boy looked back at his fingers and made a small agitated "Uuu…" grumble and muddled up.

"Just take the change already. I think that's enough already math for today." He said. "We can go home about now. We've finished buying everything."

"O-Ok! …I don't like math, it's too complicated…" He grabbed the change and started strolling towards the general direction of where their residence would be.

"Ho ho~ What a cute kid. I wonder if he's the reason why that man changed~ he used to be so quiet and miserable-looking."

The boy playfully jumped down the street and looked around at all the different shops in which he's never come to realise before. The colours seemed more vibrant and inviting, and the people didn't feel so overwhelming anymore. To the boy, it was as if the hellish underground that he knew didn't exist anymore, as if the underground had changed.

-but nothing's changed except him, and possibly the man too. The hellish underground will always be an integrated part of the bright and lively one.

The boy smiled. He was happy that the man forced him to come out today. He let his hand wrap around the sleeve hanging lightly beside the man, like how he always held it and looked up gratefully at the man's contented face. The man seemed happy too.

55~74

The sound of glass bottle clinking against a metal canister of tea could be distinctively heard even through the clattering of footsteps, the conversations of commoners and the shouts of shop owners trying to draw in customers to take a look at whatever they were selling.

The boy was carrying a paper bag of products that managed to slowly fill up on their shopping trip with one arm and the other grasping onto the man's sleeve. The boy could feel his muscle straining to hold it up, but if he carried the same bag back a month ago, he would be on the ground collapsed somewhere along the road ages ago. It's probably all because of the man's combat lessons that he's got more strength.

"Ne, why do you comb your hair back when you go out?" The boy suddenly brought up. That question had been lingering in his mind for quite a while, but never managed to ask it, either because it would be weird to ask or the question was not urgent. Since they were out, the boy assumed that it could be just a question to keep their conversation going.

"Ha?" The man queried.  _Where did that question come from?_

"…You don't look so old when it's down. You look... _a lot_ younger." The boy continued with his voice as even as possible trying not to suggest that the man did look …ahem…  _older_  with his hair up, almost a guy in his 40's.  _Well…I did see him a while ago when he was half awake with his hair all tousled…and he looked like he was 20! Half the age!_

"Exactly. You can't get business done with a baby face. They won't believe your words." He answered.  _…Ha…It's ironic that we've already had the same conversation…before? …After? Pshht I have no idea._ ***[ Will be elaborated in future chapters ;** )  **]**

The boy raised his gaze and stared at the man's face in more detail. He was confused. He didn't look  _that_  young. "…baby face?"

"Like…when people always assume you're a brat but…" The man paused to look at the boy. "You're actually stronger and wiser than any other six year olds out there."

The boy could feel warmth rush to his face. Though he's been getting the most casual compliments that he's ever had when he's with the man, there were still many subtle surprise compliments that he could throw at him. "Hmm." He hummed in agreement.

The man returned his attention to the road, then grabbed a strand of hair. "Is it weird, bad? My hair being smoothed back." He asked casually.

"No." The boy responded. "Not bad at all."

Something suddenly popped into the man's head. "Speaking of hair…" the man stopped walking and began ruffling the boy's longer-than-average hair. A glint shined over his green-blue eyes. "Short hair with an undercut would suit you a lot better."

"W-what?" He stammered in shock.  _What is that anyway? Sounds weird. As if I'll ever get that haircut._ "O-Oi! Stop ruffling my hair! Uuuu!"

"But it's soft." The man grinned.  _And I've always wanted to do this! Heh._

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**Hew hew, Love y'all,**

**Bubblepop32**

**Ps. Pls excuse mistakes!**


	8. Part 7

**_GUYS! REMEMBER I'M DROPPING HUGE HINTS ABOUT THE MAN'S ORIGINS IN ALMOST EACH CHAPTER (I think I'm dropping the biggest in this chapter, but then again everyone already knows who the two are ;D )!_ ** **See if you can work them out ;P (it's simpler than u think, just a slip of a word or so! _And don't over think it :)_**

**Grab your pillows, hot chocolate, presents, your buds and read like you've never before :D**

75

76

77

78

79

The man stood in the same spot without moving and watched the horror that was about to happen unfold right in front of him.

At first, the boy was flinging himself along through the cave with the grappling hooks just fine…until he made a bad choice of firing one into a cracking stalactite. Upon impact, it shattered, tangling the wires up into a fine a snag that even a fisherman would be proud of. Well, what happened to the little boy?

He was sent flying towards the ground like a shooting star, leaving a trail of tangled wires and chunks of rock on the way. The boy was screaming something along the lines of "UWAHHHHHH! HELPPPP!" –which was then followed by a huge 'CRASH'.

The man flinched at the velocity of impact, as if he could recall what crashing into the ground felt like. He pulled in a short breath, which quickly got stuck in his throat because of the crushing feeling of worry boiling from the pit of his stomach.

The man immediately hied over to the crash-landing site, looking around for any signs of movement, or life. Just as he was going to accidently step on the barely conscious boy from all the pain (unintentionally), the boy rolled over and appeared from the spray of rubble. The man instantly knelt down and picked him up from the rubble carefully, as not to further damage the freshly-fallen boy.

"Fuck. What the hell did you just do!" The man cursed, partially to himself and partially to the boy. He knew giving a set of 3DMG to a  _six_ year old boy wasn't a very bright idea, yet he gave it to him anyway. "I'm not going let you use these things again!"

The boy let out a strangles moan of pain before cracking his lips open for an objection. "N-No! I fell because i-it was an accident-" He let out a small hacking cough and a series of 'ow's which completely sealed the fate of not being able to touch a 3DMG for another…let's say 10 years.

The man gently slung the boy over his shoulder and crouched down to pick up the remaining pieces of the 3DMG. He looked at it despondently and let out a chest aching sigh. "Well, there goes my only 3DMG, and the remaining gas." He wasn't angry at all, just slightly disheartened that his own 3DMG got trashed.

The boy felt a wave of guilt wash over him. He's seen how the man's looks at it with a nostalgic and distant gaze, a gaze which someone gives to their loyal friend that understands you inside out. "I'm sorry…for breaking it." He mumbled quietly.

"…" For a moment, the man stared at it in silence, then replied to the boy's apology. "It's…fine. I'll try and fix it when we get back home."

"Really? You can do that?!" the boy said more enthusiastic than before. "C-can you show me?" –  _so that if I ever break it again, I can fix it before you even knew it was broken…_

"Sure sure. But look at this mess you've made of this place." The man said languidly. Thank goodness the place was deserted, or else several houses would have been demolished. "And of yourself." He added on when he noticed that the boy's left ankle was prominently swollen, probably because it had been twisted in the crash.

The man turned away from the rubble and started walking away, balancing the broken gear and the boy skillfully with his right arm.  _Always the left leg, huh._ He thought to himself, taking a quick glance at the steadily swelling left ankle of the boy.

The boy gritted his teeth and bit down on his bottom lip. "… Why did you have to tell me…" he hissed. "Now that I know about it…" What started off as a numb feeling suddenly had a spurt of power and had evolved into a piercing, prickling pain slowly creeping up from his ankle. "a-ah…ittai…"

"Your fault for being so hyped to use it without hearing me out first. Don't hit top speed when you can't even control the frikkin thing." He huffed. The man suddenly paused, recalling an old memory when he first used a 3DMG. He failed terribly too, but that was because someone tampered with it. So instead of heating the one-sided argument, he dropped the subject and moved on to another.

"It's going to hurt for the next few weeks, you're pain has just started." The man commented. "You won't be able to walk much."

The boy raised his head, trying to give the man a grudging look, but his hair blocked his way. "N-not h-helping-" a misstep by the man (done purposely) caused him to quickly hitch a breath through gritted teeth, making a hissing sound.

"Save your breath. I don't want to hear it."

The boy helplessly slumped onto the man's shoulder and stopped talking.  _The man's told me twice to get a very specific hair cut…_ He grabbed a lock of his hair between his fingers and studied it… _maybe this hair is getting too long-_ The man misstepped again (by accident), stopping the boy from his thoughts and yelled out in strain.

"Sorry, my bad."

"D-Don't do that a-again!" the boy complained loudly.

* * *

 

The boy was slouched on a chair at the dining table, completely exasperated and worn out from the painful struggle of twisting his left foot back to how it was supposed to look like. His gaze was unfocused, almost as if he was too tired to even concentrate on looking at something. He has never been so glad that his environment was so quiet.

His left leg, which is now all bandaged up, swung limply. He didn't regret using the 3DMG; instead he was extremely ecstatic and overjoyed that he got to feel the exhilarating freedom as he zipped across the cave. It's just that he was too worn out to show it.

His hands tingled lightly, as if he was still clasping onto the handles that fitted perfectly in his palms, other than being a tad too big. The fine cut grooves edged onto the handle…the smooth hitch that pulsed through his nerves when he pressed down on the trigger…the rush of adrenaline perking up his senses…he wanted to feel it all again.

The boy was acting as if he was going through a severe sugar dive. "Urgh…"

"What's with that look." The man called tiredly from the doorway. "Does it hurt?"

"…No." The boy replied. He turned his head slightly towards the man and let out a soft sigh. "…When will I be able to use that thing again?"

"…" The man flowed across and sat down in his seat opposite of him. "Around the time when the survey corps come for you." He answered.

The boy's finger twitched in annoyance.  _Everything he does somehow relates to the 'survey corps'! Yet he never tells me what the hell it is!_ He snapped himself upright and banged his hand on the table in anger. He couldn't keep his feelings inside of him anymore. He has the right to know.

"What the hell is this 'Survey Corps'! You tell me that one day they'll come for me, to not look into your journal until I'm in it, and now you're telling me that I can't use that thing until 'That' time has come! How am I supposed to know when, when I don't even know what it is?!" He flared at the man with untamed anger. "At least tell me what this 'Survey Corps' is!"

The man's expression did not change. He knew that somehow things were going to end up this way. He could already feel the painful, forlorn nostalgia swelling up inside.  _Deep breath…Get it over and done with…_ He closed his eyes and sucked in a wistful breath.

When he opened his eyes again, there was a violent storm raging inside of them, shocking the boy. " ' _The survey corps is the branch of the Military most actively involved in direct Titan combat, Titan study, human expansion, and outside exploration_ ,' would be the most direct definition for it. But to me, it meant freedom, and the means of reaching my dream…" – _which never worked out._  The man couldn't help but chuckle at how much of an idiot he was…or, he would be.

The boy had stopped breathing a bit. He stared, but without his previous pent up anger. What did the man just show him? Reminiscence? Deep, scarred sentimental feelings? He shivered ever so slightly.

The man continued. "You know…I'm not from the underground."

Now the boy was aghast.  _Where else could he had come from?!…Don't say…the surface?! T-The unattainable surface?! T-Then why's someone like him…all the way down here?!_ He moved onto the edge of the seat and rested his head on both of his fisted hands.

"When I still had my arm…I was a monster. A monster that everyone feared, condemned,  _and wanted dead._ " The last word came out as a low hiss.

The boy couldn't understand why they wanted this man dead. He's a really nice guy, teaching him all thoughts of stuff…  _Letting me find my purpose for living in this world._

He looked at his flat sleeve sadly. "That's probably the reason why I am down here. For being a monster for too long. This could be a punishment for aiming too high…" He clutched at his left stub. He feigned a smile, but sadness was clearly displayed. "…for making me responsible for the future…I-it's difficult, you know."

The boy interrupted the man's self-endorsed-punishment. "T-Then I will support you! I-I'll do what I can! I-I'll do all the cleaning!" He blabbered in a hurry. All he wanted to convey was -

The man chuckled lightly and placed a hand over his eyes. "Thanks but-"

"- As l-l-long as you don't need to do it by yourself." The boy stated strongly, but quickly receded again feeling that he's spoken a bit too much. "And…you're not a monster…I don't think you are."

The man bit his bottom lip and trembled slightly. Something rolled down his cheek and dripped onto the table. A lone tear drop. He wanted to tell the boy everything, just let everything spill. But he knew he couldn't.

He suddenly remembered the hooded man's words. '… _Keeping your identity in the dark will only give people who are close to you suffering…'_

But if he let the people close to him know too much, they'll suffer the same.

The boy remained silent. As a 6 year-old that doesn't know much, he at least knew that the man needed support in situations like these. It's just that he doesn't know how to give it.  _What will the old man do in situations like this!_

He hopped of the chair, obviously landing on his good foot, and painfully hobbled over to the man. He gingerly reached out a hesitant hand and stuck it stiffly on the man's head. "…It's going to be o-okay…" he whispered quietly. "Just believe." He felt extremely awkward saying these words of encouragement, it was almost as if he was spitting out bricks.

The man jolted in surprise and sucked in a short, shallow breath, creating a hitched sound. Before he could do anything else, the boy proceeded to generously ruffle up his hair.

"I'll make tea. Don't…don't over work yourself, old man." He hobbled off, yelping a complaint whenever he put too much pressure on his left ankle.

The man could only sit there in shock, and relief. He was thankful, thankful that the person that he's with here in the Underground was the boy, thankful that he's no longer considered to be a monster anymore, and more so that he now know that he's not alone anymore.

80

* * *

 

~Christmas Special~

"Hey…what's with all the flashing lights and trees…and tinselly stuff?" The boy inquired. He raised his head higher trying to get a better glimpse of the sparkly stuff.

They happened to be on a shopping trip for supplies, namely bandages as the boy always ends some sort of injury right after combat lessons. They also happened to be on a busy street filled with people celebrating Christmas.

The man looked around and smiled. "Christmas. A day where you spend time with your family…" That sentence made both of them start an internal turmoil. "And give each other gifts."-  _That reminds me…_

The boy had never in the entire 6 years of being alive seen anything like this.  _How…how could I have missed something this big?_ He looked at the twinkling lights and the cheerful people in suppressed awe.

"W-When's your…um…birthday?" The man asked dubiously.  _If his birthday is on THAT date…_

The boy looked at him with a frown. Why's the man stuttering? Now that the boy thinks about it…he remembers his mother dismissively marked a specific date on the calendar. He wondered if that was it. "I think it was the…25th…of December?"

The man nearly trips over his own foot and comes to a stop. "T-t-twenty-fifth of d-d-December?" he stutters, resaying the date to reconfirm if he heard correctly.

The boy cranes his neck and looks up at him weirdly. "I think that's it." He felt the man come to a stop, so he stops as well. "Is something wrong." The boy narrows his eyes and observes the man judgingly.

"N-n-n-no…" The man moves almost robotically to pat the boy. "H-Hey, how 'bout this. Let's go home for today…" –  _Shit…he has the same birthday as…Christmas is also tomorrow…I need to get him something._

The boy stares at him with hidden emotions. He was trying to decipher what got into the man to make him change all of a sudden. After rummaging through different possibilities, he came to one conclusion. "Are you sick?" he stated bluntly.

"What."

"You sick?" He said again.

"N-no."

The boy stared questionably at the man. "Come on. We're going home now." He took hold of the sleeve and began dragging him towards home.

~Special~

"I need to go out for a bit." The man called from the door. The boy immediately popped out from the kitchen and strode over.

Without any hesitation, he disapproved him going outside. "No, you can't go. You're sick." He wrapped both his arms around his sleeve, acting as an anchor to stop him from escaping away.

"Oh come on." The man patted the boy's head then ruffled it a bit. "I'm not sick. And I'll only be out for… half an hour at most."

The boy raised his head and pinched his lips up tight. "What if you die out there." He complained.

"…"- _This guy…skipping to death when he could've said 'faint' or 'collapsed'._ "I won't. Can you let me go now?"

The boy shook his head and leant up against the man's chest. He's trying to do his best to keep the man safe from the outside world, yet this ungrateful old man decides to go out anyway, completely wasting his efforts. But then, he felt the man crouch down to his level and leaned across, pecking him on the forehead.

"How 'bout I promise you I'll come back alive." The man says in a quieter voice.

"…" The boy had no idea how to react. He just got kissed on the forehead. He got KISSED. His hands immediately wipped away from the man's sleeve and travel to his forehead, covering it. He could definitely feel his face heat up, as if they were mini suns.

"Heh~" The man's signature chuckle rolled across the room. "I'm going to go." He cracked open the door and soon enough, he was out.

Instead of returning to whatever he was doing before, the boy stood there, completely stunned and shocked. "Oiiiiiiii!"

~Special~

The boy waited and waited and waited. It felt like he's been waiting for at least five hours, but surprise surprise, it's only been 15 minutes. He's cleaned the kitchen twice in that time, made himself tea and walked around the house ten times.

"When are you going to come back…" he flopped onto the sofa, and without anything else to do, he laid there trying to get at least some sleep. But never less, trying to sleep in situations like these don't work. He squished his eyes shut and blew out a small sigh-

_Clack_

Then, the sound of rustling clothes and footsteps seem to light up the room. "I'm home. Damn…that was harder to get than I thought." Including the voice of a very familiar man.

The boy immediately bolted up from the sofa, almost snapping off his neck because of how much force he used to get up. He dashed to the entrance and attacked the man with a hug tackle, causing the man to tumble down onto the ground in unprecedented surprise.

"Oh perfect. You're here!" Despite being on the ground in a very uncomfortable position, he tousled around his duffel bag, until his hand found its way around the present. He pulled it out and shoved it over the boy's head, which was snuggling into his chest.

"Mmmf! What's this!?" The boy scrambled up, and pulled the thing on properly. It was a brand new, dark green cloak tailored just for him.

The man smiled approvingly at his handy work (as in guessing the right sizes and choosing good fabric, not physically making it because he's going to prick himself to death). "Merry Christmas, and happy birthday." He said. "The cloak is also fireproof, waterproof and tear proof."- _also blood proof,_ "I also made it bigger so that you can wear it when you're older too." He added.

The boy ran his finger over the fine fabric, it was like touching the 3DMG again. Sparks shot up through his nerves as he touched it, almost as if they were meant to be together. And most of all, he got something for his birthday and Christmas. The only one thing he got as a present on this day was life, which up until the man stepped in, was completely and utterly like six stages of hell.

He's completely overwhelmed. He doesn't know how to react to this. He doesn't know what to say, nor does he know what to do. So instead of jumping up and down and trashing the house because he's so happy like normal kids who receives the gift of their dreams, he stands in the same spot and grips onto his present.

The man knew clearly what was happening, because after all, they've been together for a decent amount of time and he could read the boy's expressions like a book. So, he helps him.

The man crouches down and outstretches his arm for a hug. "Come 'ere and give me a 'thank you' hug."

The boy, seeing the indication, runs into his embrace and wraps his arms around him as well. "T-thank you!" He whispers into the crook of the man's neck. He tightened his grip, hoping that will somehow convey how thankful, how urgent his gratitude towards the man was.

"I'm glad you like it." He whispers back. "I was worried that you didn't like it."

The boy started shaking, but ever so slightly. Then, he whispers something barely audible. "I…I like it."

* * *

 

**Bubblepop32 out~~**


	9. Part 8

**Tis Bubbles!**

**Hmmm… I won't say much this time (in a rush to get this to you), so get ready your headband, fake moustaches (real ones if you have them) and enjoy this little chap~**

* * *

 

80

81

82

83

84

~X~

_Eren untied his white apron and hung it on a hook before returning to his original position of observing his first pot of soup he's made whilst in the Special Operation Squad. Usually, no one dared to let him cook. There was a too big of a possibility that he might cut himself, performing the self-injury needed to shift into his titan form, which was not something anyone wanted including Eren. But despite the risk, he still insisted that he should cook._

_Oruo, the tongue biter was the only one who was against the idea of him taking kitchen duty that day. Levi's judgement remained neutral, as he wasn't going to waste his breath and time to argue on either sides. He did get the mission to suppress Eren if he ever goes berserk, and he'll be ready to scoop him out of the titan no matter where or when, even if he was cooking. But then again, he never even knew the argument came to being._

_After a full-blown, ear-ringing argument, mostly from Oruo's side, it was finally decided that Eren was going to cook._

_Oruo was menacingly glaring at Petra, sending saliva everywhere with each word he seethed. "You're letting that brat cook because **you**  don't want to!" He spat in pique. He jabbed his finger towards Eren who was nervously fidgeting in his seat to clearly show the 'brat' he was referring to._

_Eren began retaliating but was soon cut off, "O-Oi I'm not a br-"_

_Petra gritted her teeth and busted a comment right back. "So it has come down to this huh? You are now changing the subject of the discussion because you know you are losing! Are you trying to make it seem as if it is my fault?" She jabbed her index finger angrily onto his chest. "Nice try! You know what? Eren!"_

_"H-hai!" He responded, saluting as well as a reflex due to how overwhelming her voice sounded._

_Petra turned and looked at Eren with a seemingly eerie smile. "Go cook for us Jeager." She chimed nicely, but to Eren it sounded more like a do-or-die demand. "And don't worry about this bastard over here." She jabbed her finger against his chest again._

_"O-o-o-okay…"_

_"You should get going, or we'll all have nothing to eat." She turned her attention back towards Oruo whose face just went a tint paler. "While you do that…I'm going to deal with this scamp." The last few words came out as a low and dangerous hiss._

_Oruo glared at Eren."BRAT! Stay right where you ar- NGGFFFFFFFF!"_

_Before Eren could get dragged back into the argument, he dashed off towards the kitchen and carried out Petra's order in silence._

_"Women sure can get scary when they're ticked off…" A shiver travelled down his spine when he thought of what Mikasa could do…_

_Eren sighed tiresomely at even the thought of what happened. He took out six bowls and started filling each of them with equal amounts soup which he improvised with a few potatoes, carrots, possibly cabbage and a few other ingredients he found loitering around. He wasn't exactly if it tasted ok, but from the average, soupy look it seemed edible enough to serve._

_Just as he finished scooping, Oruo walked with uneven steps into the kitchen. Even over the smell of the soup, Eren could faintly detect the pang of horse manure and a bunch of cleaning products. He snickered to himself at the possible punishments Oruo could have received for being indecently vulgar towards Petra in their earlier argument._

_"You done?" Oruo asked with an annoyed tone._

_Eren turned around and nodded, three bowls carefully clamped between his grasp. It was obvious that someone ordered him down here to help him, possibly Petra._

_Oruo grabbed the remaining bowls and looked down at them, making a disapproving 'tch' when he saw the soup's bland appearance. He was definitely going to give Eren an earful of how bad he's done and why he shouldn't cook when they sit down._

_Eren finally sat down in his spot after retrieving a basket of bread from the food storages and a jug of water from the kitchen. He waited nervously for people to make a move on his soup, which went pretty well on his first try. Despite looking ok, he didn't particularly know if it tasted ok._

_"Well, let's eat." Petra announced. Her previous spine-chilling anger seemed to have decimated and the smile she shot at Eren wasn't as scary._

_Everyone simultaneously dipped their spoon in the soup and tasted it. Eld and Gunther shoved it in their mouth completely oblivious to the fact that Eren was the one who made and continued their meal with little change. To them, it tasted quite unflavoured and watery, but didn't bother to mention it._

_Levi narrowed his eyes at the spoonful of broth and cautiously placed it into his mouth. His eyes widen just a fraction in surprise, which quickly returned to normal before anyone noticed the change. The soup was definitely odd…_  This taste…

_Oruo simply placed down his spoon with no major reaction, as he already knew that some inexperienced brat like Eren would make this low level soup. "The taste is too mediocre. You must've just tossed the stuff in without carefully considering how to bring out their full taste. Only an amateur brat would do this." He pronounced, advertising the bad points._

_Petra tightened her grip on the spoon and shot death glares and eye-daggers at him in disbelief._ Has he not learnt his lesson? That bastard picking on Eren because he's a sore loser…  _The soup indeed wasn't top notch but considering that they signed up to kill titans and **not** to live behind wall Sina in luxury, he shouldn't be complaining._

_"This isn't the training ground you used to be in Eren." He pressed on. Eren's name was said with an accusing tone, as if he still thought he was cooking for fun back with the other brats. "When you use the proper techniques, it is very possible to create delicious meals whilst economical at the same time." Oruo was basking himself in his self-created glory._

_Petra was going to snap any moment…_ If he's not going to stop bragging, I'm going to walk right over and-

_Eren, who decided to munch on bread, felt intense anger starting to boil again, and he was also sure that Oruo hasn't noticed the sudden change. A trickle of perspiration rolled down his cheek wondering if something interesting will happen soon if Oruo keeps on going._

_"Listen, delectable meals are-"_

All right! That's it I'm going to-  _Before Petra could make a bloody scene, Levi cut in._

 _"Shut up and eat or die of hunger. You get what you get." The captain deadpanned with little patience._ That tongue-biting idiot just hasn't been through worse shit…  _He picked up his tea and took a casual sip._

_Oruo turned around at the sound of Captain drinking tea, thinking that he gave up trying to eat such frugal soup…but instead he turned around to find that his bowl was already empty._

_Eld and Gunther seemed to catch on halfway and turned too._

_"Eh?!"_

_Gunther dropped his spoon and stared unbelievingly at Captain's bowl._ So fast!  _Though he was taking in the soup since the first spoon, Captain seemed to somehow beat him._

_"T-…that's captain for you!" Oruo started. "Even his table manners and speed cannot be emulated-MMFF!" Because of the sudden disappearance of reasons to lecture Eren about how bad his soup is, Oruo lost his calm composure and his tongue-biting habit returned._

_When Eren noticed why everyone's attention was drawn to Captain's bowl, he was dumbfounded. "….. Uh…um… would you like another bowl?"_

_And then all of a sudden attention changed from the bowl to him, all of them were completely flabbergasted at how casual it came out._

_Petra inhaled sharply. "Huh? Wait what?! W-w-what did you just-…"_

_Eren turned slightly towards her confusingly. "Eh? Can't I ask…?"_

_Petra gave a wonky smile. "N-no…It's just that…that was really bold of you to do so-" Her sentence was impeded by the even more surprising reply from Captain._

_He raised his bowl, implying that he accepted the offer._

_"(O.O)!"_

_Oruo nudged Eren in a rush, snapping him out of a daze. "Hurry!" He whispered._

_"O-oh! A-ah…" Eren clumsily pushed himself up and quickly grabbed the bowl. "I'll bring you another serving right now!" without further hesitation, he darted away to the kitchen._

_The rest of the squad gazed with shocked expressions at the leaving figure._

_Petra slid slightly down her seat, relieved that nothing bad happened. "…Captain, today's soup…was made by Eren." She advised gently. She was satisfied that Oruo just got beaten at his own argument unknowingly but Captain._

_Levi averted his gaze and spoke from his cup which was hovering just in front of his lips. "I know."_

_Petra was taken slightly aback at how sure he sounded. It was almost as if he was there when Eren made the soup. But she knew that wasn't possible, as he was all the way on the level above in his study. Sometimes she could see Captain reminiscing about something, and he always wore a gentle, almost melancholic expression. Even now, Petra could see it forming on his face._

~X~

The man woke up with a start and almost toppled out of his seat. He was trying to finish off his journal, but probably fell asleep at how late he had stayed up to do so. The last time he checked the clock it was four thirteen in the morning, and now it was somewhere around twelve noon.

He immediately bolted up from his chair at the realisation of how late it was, but banged his knees in the progress. A blanket fluttered down from his back onto the ground when he sat back down again, groaning with pain. After the pain subsided, he picked the blanket up and smiled.  _Must've been him~_

He then saw a note placed onto of his open journal, which had ugly, scratchy, disorientated letters on it. Usual people would've passed it as some marks left by an animal, but with trained eyes, he could tell that it was from the boy.

"Bread ran out, out to by bread

Be back buy 12:30

Get mor rest!

ps I didn't look in jernal!"

The man chuckled at the boy's message and mistakes. He really liked how thoughtful the boy was to include that he should get some more sleep in his hours. He also came to notice that his journal was indeed in the sight of the boy, and the pages were clearly open, adding to the level of allurement towards the boy's strong curiosity. He really did hope that the boy didn't peek! Before he could worry himself any longer, he closed the journal and slid it back inside his drawer.

The man had not felt the best in the past few days; always fatigued – probably because of dreams he's been getting, found it hard to eat his usual amount and sometimes his vision would blur. He's also been having this really bad, uneasy feeling too. He's hoping that it wouldn't be a premonition to a bad predicament.

"Ergh! Stop being an idiot!" He yelled to himself, pinching his face to wake himself up. He's got brunch to make and eat, and he's got an urge to finish his journal too whilst teaching the boy the difference between 'by' and 'buy' whilst also keeping up with all the other things he's gotta do with him.

There was just one thing the man didn't really take into his thoughts seriously.

His gut feelings were often correct.

85

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**And the last two sentences of this chapter… For you to ponder! ;DDDDD**

**Pls give this story (for me as well) a greatly needed uplifting comment!**

**Listening to the cicadas, Bubblepop ;3**

**P.s. Excuse any grammar, wording mistakes!**

** ~UPDATE/EDIT~ **

**Ravenfeather613 has pieced together a drabble based on the scene where Levi accepts Eren’s offer for a second bowl of soup!**

**Disclaimer: Please note that the following is purely a non-profit fan-based work. The Original Doujinshi, "1 Hundred" belongs to Doro Coppelia. The fan fiction based off of that Doujinshi belongs to the fabulous writer, Bubblepop32. The manga and anime Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan belongs to Hajime Isayama. Lastly, Parks and Recreation belong to Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. Please support the official release.**

\-------

He raised his bowl, implying that he accepted the offer.

The casual (and somewhat annoying) chatter around the table immediately came to an abrupt halt. Wide-eyed, everyone turned to Levi; who was still holding up his bowl with a raised eyebrow, patiently waiting for a refill.

Oluo's jaw dropped open, and his eyes widened to the size of saucers. Levi was secretly afraid they would slip out of his sockets if the man expanded them any further. Gunther, with his astonished eyes still trained on Levi, calmly reached across the table with a hand and lifted Oluo's chin up, closing his jaw. Only for it drop back open. Eld and Petra looked at each other from across the table, then back at their Captain, then back at each other. Both tongue-tied. Eren just stayed seated, too gob-smacked to react properly, or even at all.

Levi's bored eyes darted to and fro from one squad member to another. A silent request for the answer to a nonexistent question. When one wasn't given, he cleared his throat and spoke. "Are we out of stew, or…?"

His voice seemed to splinter through an invisible spell which seemed to be cast upon his comrades because all of their eyes widened even more (If that was even physically possible. It turns out it was). Immediately, their eyes darted over to Eren who was still silently petrified in his seat.

Oluo finally closed his mouth, only to open it, then close it, then open again it in an attempt to say something to the youngster, and then to finally close it…again. He might as well be a fish on dry land. He eventually sharply nudged Eren in the ribs, successfully snapping the teen out of his daze.

Eren winced at the sudden contact and snapped his head over at Oluo shooting him a somewhat dazed look. "Huh?"

Oluo tilted his head twice at the head of the table, his face littered with urgency.

Eren got the message and looked across the table in the direction the man was gesturing. Levi was still holding up his bowl, requesting a refill. A request that should have been fulfilled five minutes ago.

Oluo nudged Eren in the ribs yet again. "Hurry!" he whispered to the teen. Even quieter he added, "Don't keep the old man waiting."

Clumsily, Eren pushed himself up from his seat, darted around the table, snatched Levi's bowl and made a beeline for the closed door behind Levi. Looking over his shoulder Eren added, "I-I'll bring you another serving right away, si-". His sentence was abruptly cut off by him slamming full force into the door. The rest of the squad, with the exception of Levi, visibly winced at the sound and sight of it. Oluo commented something along the lines of, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out.", which earned him a glare from Petra.

Levi didn't need to turn around to know that the boy had slammed into the door behind him. Nor did he need to turn around to see Eren straining to pull open a door that was meant to be pushed.

Eventually, Eren successfully managed to exit the room and all that could be heard was the gentle ticking of the clock on the wall. Levi serenely sipped on his tea, while the rest of the squad still stared in shock at the closed door.

Oluo was the first to snap out of his daze and scoffed at the recent event that took place. "Wow, I bet all of the branches must have fallen off his family tree when he was born.'' he joked.

He was meant with silence.

"Looks like someone's Birth Certificate was an apology from the condom factory..." Petra retorted with a bitter glare in his direction.

Oluo blinked, his mouth agape in shock. Two could play at that game.

"Okay. Okay. You know what? Fine, here you go. You might want to borrow this." he reached into a pocket on the interior of his uniform jacket and pulled out a white piece of cloth and proceeded to hand it to Petra.

Petra's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but she took the cloth in her hand anyway. "Nobody wants your dirty underwear, Oluo." She made a move to hand it back to him, but he cut her off.

"It's not dirty underwear, Petra." Oluo bit out. "It's a white flag and you may as well start waving it right now because-"

"The ONLY thing I will be waving is your decapitated head in front of your weeping mother!!" Petra screeched at him.

The sound of the door opening fell on deaf ears.

Levi choked on his tea. Gunther shifted his chair to the right in an attempt to gain some distance between himself and livid red-head. Eld buried his face in the crook of his elbow in a coughing fit. Oluo leaned back in his chair, overwhelmed at the sudden intensity of her attitude.

Unbeknownst to them, Eren had been standing in the same room with a bowl of soup in his hand, perplexed after having witnessed the entire ordeal.

"Good lord..." he murmured.

\-----


	10. Part 9

**Now ladies and gentlemen, please sit back, relax and enjoy the show…**

* * *

 

Sitting silently at the table was a quieter than usual, now seven-year-old boy whose arms and legs were no longer thin sticks. Ever so slightly, he swung his legs and slumped forward so that his chin rested on his folded arms. He could feel that his arms weren’t as bony and uncomfortable to rest on anymore. He first started noticing that his arms and legs had developed something rather firm and squishable the moment he landed his first punch on the old man during combat training. He could clearly remember how the man raised his eyebrows, eyes widening in surprise, exclaiming a word of congrats.

Ever since that spark of epiphany, he’s come to realise a lot of things has changed. One thing was that he’s definitely become stronger, not to mention healthier too. His calves had some degree of curve to them, and his ribs weren’t as obvious as before, there was also this weird squishable and soft thing that the man liked squishing around his cheeks.

Not only did he gain more body mass, his outlook towards the underground society has also gotten better. Before he met the man, he could remember that everything, everywhere looked like death to him. It was either kill or be killed. Nobody could live a fair life.

But now, he hasn’t seen that gruesome, unfair version of the underground for ages; ever since the man started taking care of him. The man changed him. If the man wasn’t there at that time, he would still be stuck in that filthy, narcotic environment. He might be still running away with his life barely in his grasp, his birthday still completely unknown, still frailly weak and thin, still ignorant about everything. If it wasn’t for the man’s patience and teachings, he would definitely not had the guts to go out alone to buy bread yesterday.

He wouldn’t even think as far as to buying it; stealing it would be the first thing that would fly into his mind. Not only stealing, killing would be plan B if plan A failed.

He might’ve already lost his life to malnutrition or physical abuse from his uncle if he wasn’t here now.

The brighter side of the underground, his life wouldn’t have been discovered if the man wasn’t there. The boy also knew another thing: he gets this weird, fuzzy, and weirdly warm feeling when he’s with the man. But the problem is he has no idea what it means. He’s come across many different new feelings that the man helped him experience through the course of time.

He really wondered why.

_CRASHhhHHHHhh-_

The sudden loud sound of disaster nearly scared the living daylights out of the boy, who jolted painfully in his hard wooden chair. A brain-searing pain raced through his system due to the sudden tensing of his muscles because of the thunderous crash from somewhere else in the house.

If it wasn’t him who made the noise…then it must be the crippled guy! Knowing the fact that something must’ve happened to  _him,_ the boy’s blood ran freezing cold.

That was another feeling that felt was to him. Feeling fear for someone else. Especially towards the man. It’s as if he’s feeling hot and cold at the same time; the warm fuzzy feeling and the blood chilling, heavy feeling.

He stumbled out of his chair in a panicked hurry, skidding around the corners and running towards the man’s room. Each step he took seemed to add another tonne of dread and all sorts of negative feelings onto his heart, but there was also a part of him that screamed out ‘he’s going to be just fine!’

 _‘What if he’s unconscious? What if there’s blood? What if he’s…dead?!’_ were the string of thoughts that repeated in his mind. He couldn’t stop himself from worrying.

His eyes glazed over when he stopped outside the room. He didn’t want to see what happened.

The boy got one thing right; it was the man who made the noise. Except he wasn’t dead, or bleeding, or unconscious.

Though the man was on the ground and in slight pain. “O-ow… gah!” he grumbled from a mess of fallen books. He had one of those thought-lapses where he forgot his left arm was gone and tried using it to support himself, causing him to lose balance due to the sudden transition of weight.

Uncomfortable under the mess, he felt a presence and craned his neck painstakingly up to get a glimpse of the person standing in the doorway. “– o-oh. It’s you. It’s nothing to worry about… I sorta tripped and-”

Before he could explain fully, the boy snapped out of his trance and launched himself through the books towards him. He buried his face in the man’s chest and wrapped his arms as far as he could around his waist. ‘ _Of course it’s something to worry about, damn it!’_

The man freed his arm from under the boy and raised it away from him. He stared down in confusion at the huge bundle of raven black hair. “What are you- Oowww!! Book! Stabbing into back!!”

The boy didn’t care if a puny book was stabbing painfully into his back. He wanted to listen to his heart beating, to make sure that he was alive. He’s just  _relieved_  that the man alright…it was as if it was the time when he ran down the street unbelievably early in the morning to find the man again. He pinched the man’s cheeks as punishment for making his heart sink into his stomach with worry.

“Pinching my cheek…making me suffer the pain of having a book jabbed into my back…” The man muttered with irritation. “…You’re definitely coming shopping with me today.” He chopped the boy’s neck with a solid hit, half-heartedly stunning him.

With the boy’s grip loosening, he propped himself up and observed the pile of books that happened to topple out of their places. He sighed tiresomely at the mess. “This is going to be a pain in the ass to clean up… but I’m going to do that later!” Peeling the boy away from his chest, he slung him over his shoulder and stepped away from the mess as if it was never there…

‘ _Heh…If he was here…he’ll kill me then bring me back to life just to tell me to clean it again if he saw this uncleaned mess…’_ The man thought flippantly. “But then again…he’s…” His eyes trailed to the dazed face that’s hanging upside down. His gaze fazed slightly when he saw the slight similarities between the boy and the person that has been clouding his mind ever since he took the kid in.

He shoved the hesitant and diffident thoughts away and trudged towards the front door. He can still clearly remember the day when he came in through that door with an unconscious stick like kid and the loaf of warm bread that he tried stealing. Now looking at the same kid who came through that door now, it’s almost as if looking at a completely different boy. A boy that became a part of his life rather than an external entity which he could simply give away. He’s taught the boy many things that he’s been taught himself, it was almost as if the boy was his…

…The boy was just someone he really, really cared about.

“Why’d you dump all this on me.” The boy grumbled. His neck still ached painfully from the powerful chop that rendered him to be an unmoving lump of meat for a few minutes, and just as he could move again, the man gave him two paper bags filled with random groceries to carry around. He has no idea how he could shop so fast in such a short time, not to mention carrying him around.

“Not my fault that I only have one arm.” He replied. He gave the boy a playful grin. “And you’re a lot stronger now, so why not?”

The boy glared icily at the man and sped up his walking pace, walking ahead. “We’re going home.” He stated with little patience.

“O-Oi…Wait up-” He called, but the boy’s mind was elsewhere.

He saw a woman calling out to a child about his age. “Nick…! Come here.” Her voice pealed out as a gentle assertion, cooing the child to come over to her. At the strange word ‘Nick’, the child started paying attention.

The boy observed the scene with curiosity. The man’s never taught him any ‘Nick’ word and wondered what it meant, and why it caught the other’s attention. Without knowing, he slowly came to a stop and stared as the two walking away.

The man caught up to him and looked at him cautiously, slightly confused why he stopped, as usually when he called for him to wait up he would walk even faster. He slung his drawstring bag onto his shoulder and lightly tapped the boy’s head.

He noticed that the boy was gazing at the mother and son walk away. “What’s up?” he cursorily asked.

“…” The boy looked up at him. “Hey, what does ‘Nick’ mean?”

“That’s the kid’s name.” He replied. He wondered what the boy was trying to get at.

“So…your name is ‘old man’?”

Upon hearing that the boy is still referring to him as ‘old man’, he bonked him hardly on the head. The boy immediately shot him a spiteful glare.

“I’m not old and ‘old man’ is not a name.” He stated.

“Crippled man.” The boy suggested.

“…” He looked at empty sleeve. “‘Crippled man’ is not a name either.”

The boy furrowed his brows in thought. “Then…” He started walking again, slowly. He swivelled around and looked straight at the man’s unfathomable green-blue eyes. “…what is a name? Do I have one? Does everyone have one?”

For a fleeting moment, the man realised that they didn’t know each other’s name…and considering that the boy was asking him for a definition of ‘name’ then does that mean he doesn’t have one? After all these months they’ve been together…

Then the boy asked one final question. “What’s my name?”

The man’s head swam with thoughts, trying to piece together things that have been bugging him ever since he arrived at the underground.  _‘His looks like him…his background story fits his…but I’ve never been sure too sure. If only he had a name then…but if his name turns out to be **his…** would that mean the moment I died…I-I…’_

He opened his mouth to reply, “You-”but it never fully came out. Before anything else could come out, he felt the blood drain away from his head, the uncomfortable feeling of light-headedness, causing his sense of balance to do a 360. Different coloured sparks clouded his vision, temporarily disabling his sight. Adding to the sense of dizziness that seemed to affect his entire body, all he could hear was loud ringing as if he was standing in a room full of alarm bells that went off at the same time.

Lowering his stance and pressing his right hand to his head was the best thing he could do to prevent himself from toppling to the ground, wherever that is. It was almost as if all his senses that connected him to the outside world gave up.

And he sort of understood why they would suddenly stop working.

He’s been solely relying on concentrated black tea to stay awake these few days, and he’s barely received any proper sleep as well. Whenever he closed his eyes, realistically clear dreams would plague his slumber. They may not be scary; in fact, most of them aren’t, but they make him recall the utterly heart-wrenching feelings of loss and guilt that he had done his best to evade over the past few years. So he’s been trying to not sleep altogether.

Which he now know was a pretty bad idea.

He’s so tired that his body doesn’t even bother registering the feeling anymore, and doesn’t bother to until everything snaps under the physical strain of pushing his body too far beyond its capabilities. Sometimes people learn best via the hard way.

To the boy, it was like an internal world apocalypse when the man pressed his fingers to his head in what he thought was frustration. But as soon as he started stumbling sideways towards the wall, collapsing against it in the progress, and not yelling at him for asking weird questioned, he knew something else was happening. Something that was definitely not good.

All those dreaded thoughts and feelings that appeared when the man crashed into the bookshelf that morning started resurfacing and getting ten times heavier. He could feel his heart palpating rapidly, his breath quickening and he could hear his heart distinctively loud hammering against his eardrums.

“H-Hey!! W-what- Are you o-ok? W-what’s wrong!” He stammered in a hurry, dropping his paper bags in the progress. He could clearly make out that his eyes were unfocused, and despite it being relatively cold, there was perspiration on his forehead, his face slightly flushed red as well. “H-hey!! Don’t do this without t-telling me!” he yelled anxiously.

_‘WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO HE’S GOING TO DIE-’_

Just as things couldn’t possibly get even worse, the boy picked up the sound of metal clashing against brick, lots of footsteps and the shouts of drunkards coming from a smaller alleyway leading onto the main road where they were. Having been around environments where he hears things like that for six years, he knew that they were extremely bad news, even towards a man struggling for consciousness and a kid that has had enough experience to bring one of them down; only one, not a group armed with metal bats and bars.

_‘WE’RE BOTH GOING TO DIE! HELP! NEED TO FIND HELP!!’_

The boy grabbed the man’s shoulders and shook them with his body weight, desperately trying to snap him out of his agony. “H-Hey! C-come on!!” The boy was shaking him vigorously, but it seems like it’s not working at all. If they don’t get going soon they won’t be able to get anywhere afterwards. They would both be lumps of dead meat on the splattered cruelly across the ground.

The boy didn’t even try dragging him. That would make them both bigger targets. He could only wait painstakingly for the man to clear up again, hoping that the gang wouldn’t come too fast…

“P-please!”

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**I promise the story isn’t going to end in the next few chapters. It’s not time yet.**

***Oh and guys, please tell me any plot holes you find, or anything that needs to be explained!***

**Love y’all for reading this~**

**Bubblepop32 out!**

**Ps. Pls excuse any grammatical errors or mistakes!**


	11. Part 10

**Now...Pls enjoy this chap with your nice warm jumpers and tea~**

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The boy held his grip tightly on the cloak he wore, which was given to him by the generous man on his 'birthday'. He is at a complete and utter loss of what to do. He's struggling to keep himself from snapping and returning to what he used to be, and he does not want that to happen. Holding the fabric which he loved gave him a sense of false security, but even if the situation now was truly far from 'safe', at least feeling safe is better than having nothing at all.

The man was talking and walking just fine before, even managing to carry him down the street as well, yet in a blink of an eye, he turned from being a perfectly fine, caring one-armed man to a dying one on the streets. Each strained breath the man took, each bead of sweat that rolled down his jaw made the boy's thoughts more daunting and distressing.

The boy doesn't even know what to think anymore, his brain was already fully occupied by a huge cloud of tormenting thoughts.

He was clearly deliberately drowning himself in a torrent of gloom-ridden thoughts.  _'He isn't going to get up. He isn't going to. We're going to die-'_  a brief flash of their bodies being carelessly dumped in a filthy alleyway amongst other rotting corpses crossed his mind, causing him to start shivering.  _'P-please get up…tell m-me what's wrong…don't abandon me…Don't…LEAVE… **ME!** '_

He wanted to stop thinking about all the bad feelings, all the despondent thoughts, but he doesn't know how to. All of this was so odd and new to him, but the man would always be there to support him. The man would crouch down in front of him, gaze at him endearingly and whisper words that would warm him up like a blanket, lulling him back to peace.

But the man couldn't do that now. He couldn't soothe his worries. Not with him half sprawled on the streets.

The boy felt completely and utterly useless that he can't do anything to help. And he knew that if the gang of drunkards came, he wouldn't even be able to protect the man. He felt so weak, desperately wished he was stronger, stronger than anyone else in the world so that he could protect the man from harm, like how the man protected, taught and took care of him.

"Hey…"

The boy could feel the gang approaching.  _'Oh no…oh no…'_ Their muffled hollering was quickly getting louder and clearer, the clinking sound of metal being dragged was so heart wrenchingly painful to listen to, each clink sent a spasm to his neck.

"Hello? Is that man ok?..."

He could attempt killing all of them…he could take out a man with a metal bat, and then take that bat off him and work his way through the gang until none of them are left. Yes, he could do it.

But the man said to not kill. Or to steal or to snatch. No matter what. But he wouldn't mind if it was only once, right? Just this one time…he'll drench himself in blood again. He simply just wished to protect him.

"Hey boy! Where are you going!" The voice of a certain person that took notice of the two that had been completely oblivious and ignored by the boy finally decided that he's had enough of being ignored. The person reached out, grabbing the boy on the shoulder. He tugged the boy towards him and kept his grip tight, keeping the boy with him. He used his other hand to turn the boy around but failed as he literally jumped out of his skin and immediately sprung backwards, out of the person's reach.

The boy screamed out in surprise, and immediately his reflexes from his previous life kicked in, which he tried desperately to get rid of in the past, but somehow still stayed with him. "AHH!" – _'They're already here they're already here…what do I do…THEy'Re GoINg tO kILL US-'_

His muscles, now much more developed, convulsed at the other person's touch, haphazardly coiling back and fearfully turned his head to glare at the drunkards that had touched him. But instead of glaring at some drunk bastards, his harsh glare was set upon a stranger draped in a thick, grey coat, with sandy yellow hair and a set of peculiar blue eyes. Something in his brain clicked back to his more civilised ways when he realised the stranger held a perplexingly worried expression.

 _'Will he help us-'_ was the first hopeful thought that came into his mind.  _'No no no…nobody from the underground will help…nobody…'_

The stranger's gaze quickly darted down the dark alleyway where the gang of some violent drunkards were slithering out of. He knew they were bad news, and knowing that this is the underground, they won't hesitate to take advantage of a half-conscious, possibly sick man and a kid that's no older than ten.

"Hey, um, kid…we should quickly get your…father out of here…" He hesitated slightly trying to decipher their relationship, "Before they get here." He pointed out to strengthen the urgency that they get out of their  _quick_.

The boy uncoiled himself from his protective position which he took on after being touched, and instead recomposed himself as best as he could before narrowing his eyes, looking at the other suspectingly. "Why should I trust you?" The boy whispered with an edge. "Sir." He quickly added, as to put into use what the man had taught him. He didn't quite catch onto the fact that the other just called his parental figure as his  _actual_  father.

The sandy-haired stranger was most definitely not ready for a kid like him to question trust; it's simply unnatural at such an age. Then again, he knew this was the underground and no one, not even a ruffled kid like the one before him can be too careful down in this filthy place. The stranger scratched his head and racked his brain for a persuasive explanation.

"I'm a doctor, you see, and I come from above." He insisted earnestly. "And your…father…definitely looks like he needs medical attention." He furrowed his brows as his trained eyes caught onto the man's lips which were turning a slightly mauve.

"…"  _'Father?'_ This time he caught on, and his eyes widened a few fractions, retightening his grip on the dark green cloak. "You're f-from above?" He questioned again.  _'Maybe Old man and this guy know each other…they're both from the surface…'_

"Well-"

_CLANG!_

A very slurred voice erupted loudly from the alley way right after the huge clang. "Ohhhhhh bro, you feelin' like bea'ing some'ing uap raight now?" He asked, but more like demanded. His head dramatically snapped towards the small crowd of three's direction. "I spyyyy with my lil' eyeee…something w-worth bea'ting the  _hic_  cccrapp out OF!" At that, he whipped his dented and rusty pole violently at a wall, denting it even further. A spray of plaster flew from the wall, creating a small cloud of grey to ominously hover in the air.

The self-acclaimed doctor slowly stood up, as if not to induce any reason why the drunkards should attack them. Without hesitating, he wrapped slid an arm around the collapsed man's waist and gently tugged him up firmly. The sheer light-weighted-ness of the man startled him slightly as he pulled him up, causing him to stumble backwards. Despite the developed looks, he was as light as a feather compared to others that seem exactly like him, but then again, who knew how many layers of clothing he was wearing?

He quickly glanced down the alleyway just to make sure they haven't advanced, and thank the three walls they haven't. "Hey kid…" He whispered quietly, as to not startle the drunkards and send them off into a killing frenzy. "Let's go."

The boy had no choice to follow. He has no other choice. He's heard about doctors from his uncle before; about how expensive and rare they are, and how stuck up and selfish they could be with their customers, always demanding money. But he decided not to trust his uncle's judgements any longer, as his saviour has proven his uncle's ideas wrong enough times.

 _"Doctors help you get better."_ The man told him when his legs were painfully marred during a 'small' accident.  _"There's nothing to be afraid of, doctors are…pretty decent."_

The boy remembered seeing a flash of pain, dejection and guilt cross the man's features at the mention of what doctors are like, but it disappeared just as instant as it appeared. It was as if the man used to know a doctor.

So without verbal complaint, he quickly gathering the groceries that were dropped and dubiously trailed behind the doctor which he decided to trust…but if he were to do anything bad…and even if he was a mere seven year old brat, he was going to find a way to kill the doctor - retrieve his ol' man and get him back home. How? He's only going to think about it when the time comes.

The three arrived in front of a small stall just around the corner of the street, selling fruit, vegetables and a bunch of others at a decent price, and grandpa sitting on a stool at the front smiled as he saw the familiar faces. The grandpa slowly rose up from his seat and grabbed his wooden cane, shuffling over towards them.

"Ho ho ho," He chuckled deeply, as if seeing a doctor carrying an unconscious man with a boy trailing behind was normal. "My dear nephew Deilan, you sure took your time with your walk."

After hearing the word 'nephew', the boy raised his head and stared curiously at the shop keeping grandpa. It was then he realised that this was the shop in which the man took him to all the time to buy produces, and the grandpa that was standing in front of him always told him to 'take his time' with all the money math. But he kept his face blank and simply stared. Part of his mind was still stuck in the maniacal phase he went through just then; still thinking about the gang, still thinking how  _useless_  he was back there, and if he tried smiling it would show as a demented half smiling, half lamenting frown-smile.

"Yeah…I'm sorry uncle, I sort of got side-tracked when I saw this guy slumped at the side of the road." The doctor's blue eyes twinkled and he gave a nervous smile and sighed. "I just had to help him, you know."

The corners of the grandpa's eyes creased, displaying that his smile was still there. "As kind as ever…and, ho ho ho, I see this young lad has finally collapsed. He's been looking a bit somnolent for the past week~" He continued airily. "And this cute kid is still following him around." He turned and nodded at the boy, who was still observantly staring at him.

The doctor, Deilan, still carrying the man, raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You know these two?" he asked. "And he's been in a tired condition for a week?" He lowered his eyebrows and forced them into a frown. "Good thing I found this person and not someone else, because I will make sure he gets his rest after this." He firmly stated.

"Ho ho ho, yes, they are regulars to this shop." The grandpa answered with slight mirth, then proceeded to shuffle slowly to the side, opening a way towards the front door of his abode. "Well then, you better get that lad inside. I'll go pack the store up and put on some jolly good tea." so, he opened the door with a steady push, then ushered them inside before walking off again with his cane to close his side stall. "Ho ho ho~"

Deilan, the doctor, carefully manoeuvred around the delicate shelves of memoires and photos and the small wooden dining table for four which also had a small display of framed sepia photographs. After finally making his way to the couch, he carefully laid the man down on it. The man's face was awfully pale and his breaths were barely registerable, it was almost as if he is having a super bad case of blood loss, maybe low blood pressure or even low blood sugar level. Whatever it is, he was going to find a way and bring him back to the healthy side. He was a doctor who worked with another younger doctor that could cure almost anyone.

The round rimmed glasses, the semi-long wavy brown hair that and the utterly mind chilling green eyes that could stare straight into your soul if he tried. That doctor was slightly odd in the head compared other doctors, but he would miracles on our patients, creating a cure when there was none, healing the sick with nearly nothing. For some reason, the person he was observing right now oddly reminded him of his younger companion, but he couldn't place a finger on what. Though he's pretty sure this was a coincidence.

The boy followed Deilan through the tall maze of upholstery and immediately ran to his old man's side, pinning his gaze on him, thinking that if he looked away the man would suddenly stop breathing completely. "S-sir…You can save him right?" He asked pleadingly, his gaze never leaving the minute rise and fall of the man's chest. "Right?" He finished with a whisper. He slid his smaller hand into his colder and paler one and hoped that the other with squeeze it, wake up and tell him that everything will be just fine. But the bigger hand stayed unmoving and frigid.

"Yes. He will get better." Deilan answered the boy's plea. "He's not that sick, and being a young man at his age, he will definitely recover." He gave a smile, not caring if the boy saw it or not.

"Promise?"

"Ok, I promise." He confirmed. He was a doctor after all, and one that came from above. He couldn't help but let a part of his mind ponder on one, slightly off topic matter.  _'Such a sweet father and son relationship~…wait…they're related…right?'_

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**_-_ ** **Deilan is an OC, so don't worry.**

**And love y'all for reading this! I hope next Chap won't take as long as this one to update!**

**\- Bubblesssss**

**Ps. pls excuse any mistakes!**


	12. Special 1

**Tis Bubblesss! I started writing a special, then I thought that it gave away too much, so I started again and wrote this one, so instead of an usual chapter, this would be a short special!**

**Kick back, relax and chill~ (and read!) I hope this small non-canon special is entertaining~!**

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~Special~

Switched…?

A man, shorter than average- actually, a man, who’s height was perfect, strode down the streets in the early hours of the night. His gaze was set stubbornly upon a nearby Café bar, available 24/7, just around the corner. The lights from inside shone hazily through the entrance and windows, making the bar glow distinctively amidst the other less-lively stores.

After a day of brain frying, muscle aching work, he’s definitely severely deprived of caffeine and he wanted his recharge _soon_. He hated dealing with those snobby nobles that were even more of a glutton than a pig. Pigs at least give pork and ham, nobles spew out a load of rotten junk from their mouths, never doing their dirty work themselves.

Sometimes he wished he could twist their filthy mouths off and dump them in the outer-most part of wall Maria – actually, _outside_ the walls and let them rot their; if they don’t get eaten first.

His residence was still a far way away, and he wasn’t going to trek that far until he could get his highly caffeinated coffee. Tea was his previous preference, but ever since the mass shortage of lieutenants due to the recent mass Titan activity, he had to assume many roles at once. Tea just didn’t quite make the cut for keeping him awake like coffee did.

Seeing that it was the last stretch to the Café bar, he quickened his pace, speeding faster than any shorty- perfectly heighted man can walk.

He still has a whole stack of unfinished paperwork he needed to fill him back at home, and he figured that would pretty much take away his sleeping time. The day after would be absolutely hell to get through, but if he didn’t finish them by next morning, it would keep piling up until he drowned in them.

He was only in his mid-twenties, yet he was working like an overworked slave. Suppressing a sigh, he slowed down. _‘What’s the point of hurrying,’_ he thought tiresomely.

Just then, he heard a muffled cry of help. It was faint, like the soft rustle of grass blowing in the wind, but it was there.

His steps didn’t even falter when he heard another muffled cry. _‘Why should I care? I’ve already got enough on my mind-’_

“Keep that brat’s mouth shut!” Someone whispered harshly, most likely to some other person.

A deep yelp rung through the air along with the sound of a good deal of struggling. “Shit! He bit me! And I’m trying t-to!”

“God damn! We just need some kidneys!” The first person forced through gritted teeth. “Tch…pass me that pipe will ye! At this rate someone’s goin’ ta find us!”

At this, the man paused. From the conversation, it sound like they’re trying to mug a kid’s organs and probably sell them off as ‘quality guaranteed’ to unsuspecting dealers instead. The fact that a kid is being robbed from is slightly unnerving too.

 _‘But still, what good is saving that brat going to do me?’_ His cold steel grey eyes narrowed with stubbornness as he resumed walking again. _‘A crap tonne of more responsibility which I don’t need.’_ He answered himself.

“Shh!! Keep it down!! You get the pipe yourself! Hurry up…we need to knock him out…” The other who had previously been bitten by the kid seemed to stop wrestling with the squirming kid. “C-come on……soon we’ll get enough money to live in the centre, eat as much as we want…wear nice stuff!”

That vile person should not have whispered the last sentence.

The man paused again, but this time swiftly turning and pacing down the winding alleyway, face shadowed by unfathomable boiling anger. The dam of hatred which he used all his will power to keep closed whilst he consulted the nobles burst open, letting out a torrent of rage.

But this rage was more of a time bomb than a hurricane. And he knew exactly what time he set for it to explode, and that will be the moment he lays eyes on those two shitty bottom feeders trying to live like those money-orientated filths.

He turned down the corner, entering an unknown territory of the alleyway, and before long, he set eyes on his first target. A scrawny looking man wearing a stained shirt, who seemed almost ghastly under the orange glow of their gasoline lamp. The shirt could have been white, but under the dark of midnight and all the dark blotches, it looked almost like a sick clayey brown.

The man didn’t even bother with looking at the face, all he had to see was that the scrawny guy was holding a dented metal pipe and his bulkier companion pressing something- _someone_ against the floor to tell that it was them that he was here for.

He started off slow and quiet, slowly pacing towards them, but halfway, he gave up being patient. _‘I still haven’t fucking drank my coffee…’_ and at that, he was angry. Those three, including the brat who’s pinned to the floor, was going to get a taste of his wrath.

With extra might, he accelerated, then anchored his non-dominant foot firmly on the floor. Then he twisted clockwise, once…than on the second turn, he lifted his leg smoothly, digging the heel of his boot right into the scrawny guy’s neck with unmeasurable power, kicking him right on the sweet spot. He felt and heard something definitely crack when he backward round-housed the guy.

The person flew a few metres before crashing into the wall, sliding limply into a deformed pile on the floor. He left some pretty nice smears and speckles of dark red on the wall too. It would usually take two to three kicks to knock a strong guy _out_ , not kill, yet that guy was as dead as a doornail after only one hefty kick.

“Tch…now my boot’s gotten dirty …” The man muttered with irritation, though he didn’t look down or pause to find out how dirty his shoes were or to savour the feeling of the other’s neck cracking satisfyingly upon impact.

The crouching guy immediately stumbled up, turning his body towards the commotion. His unsightly pudgy face scrunched up in shock and horror as he saw his partner in crime in a heap…and a short man with parted raven black hair glaring him down like a predator.

The bulky-build guy broke into cold sweat, his beady black eyes open wide. He was supposed to be _rich_ in less than 24 hours, living comfortably, own an entire group of prostitutes. Why was his luck so crap? He was already unlucky enough to be born into this world.

Well, guess what? Life isn’t fair. Suck it up.

Whatever exclamation of surprise and taunt he was going to say either got caught in his throat or turned into a horrible gasp as his vision turned into a blurred image of the shorter man sprinting close, faster than he could fumble for his knife, than the judgment swing of the shorty’s legs…

~Special~

The boy, who luckily kept his eyes closed through the entire thing, wiggled his hands out of the loosely bound ropes, gingerly pushing himself up. He was definitely close to tears, and wanted to find his mum, but as idiotic as he was to believe that those two would to take him outside the walls, he knew he was kind of lost.

In fact, _very_ lost. He remembers that he was with his dad to go somewhere important, something about visiting and working for a while in a hospital. Though, he also somehow decided to go on a stroll, resulting in him nearly being kidnapped.

He looked up and saw two threatening pupils glaring at him.

“A-Ah! What d-d-do you want!” He shouted with exaggerated confidence. “I-I-I can-” as he spoke, he started sniffling and blinking as if something got into his eyes. Soon later, big drops of tears trickled down the boy’s reddened cheeks, gasping as the salty tears rolled painfully over cuts and grazes on his face.

The man simply glared at him even more, clenching his jaw muscles in annoyance. _‘Now what the fuck am I going to do with this.’_ He had paperwork to fill out, coffee to drink, and now dealing with this kid. Leaving the kid would’ve been a great solution, but his strong sense of responsibility got to him first.

He couldn’t see where the kid was injured from just the fallen gasoline lamp, but judging from the fact that he nearly had his kidneys stolen, giving him medical attention would be a good idea.

“Brat, if you want to see your parents, then you’ve got to come with me.” He denoted with cold fierceness.

The boy brought his hands up to his face and vigorously tried to rub away his tears, but that backfired. Whilst trying to rub them away, he also rubbed his tears deeper into his cuts. He yelped, then tears started reappearing once more.

“Oi!! I’m not a brat!” The boy started feeling self-conscious of a stranger seeing him crying. “…and i-it’s n-n-not what y-you think…! I-I’m not cryin-ng!”

The man almost wanted to bonk the kid on the head for being a huge idiot. _‘How is this kid not traumatised?’_

“...” The boy attempted to stand up but then looked up at the man with teary green-blue eyes that shone blazingly in the dark. “M-My l-legs…”

The man’s hard gaze hardened even more, making it almost frosty. _‘Great. Now he wants me to carry him.’_  He only hoped that it was dark enough so that people passing by (if there were any so late at the night) wouldn’t notice anything.

He also had a feeling he was going to take the entire day of tomorrow. Maybe the day after that, because he can feel a headache brewing - and a big one at that too.

* * *

 

**Until my assessments are over,**

**-Bubblesss!** **  
**

**Ps. Pls excuse any mistakes.**


	13. Part 11: Name

**Let the chapter begin~**

**Previously:**  Just as the boy started realising how much the man has done for him, a small shopping trip ends up taking a turn for the worst. The man collapses from exhaustion on the side of a street and the boy is at a loss of what to do. To make matters worse, a gang of violent drunkards were eminently moving towards them. Just in the nick of time, a passing doctor named Deilan, who happened to be the nephew of the grandpa at the store, quickly rescued them. He brought them to the grandpa's house and laid him on the couch. Upon closer inspection, he exclaims that the man reminded him of a doctor he was working with up on the surface. The boy wants the doctor to promise that he will make the man better, and he promises, noting that the relationship between the two is very special.

* * *

86

~X~

_Levi ran his fingers along the second top shelf of the cupboard, then the spines of the books. Then the underside of the table. His eyebrow twitched ever-so-slightly each time he ran his fingers over patches of untouched dust and gunk which that little brat 'cleaned'. He was going to make that rookie write a ten thousand word essay on the correct definition of 'cleaning' – matching his standards._

_"Tsk…" He turned from the horrendously cleaned room and paced out, looking for the brat who did the half-assed cleaning._

_Something inside the captain started to stir, and he quickened his cadence down the corridors. A long forgotten emotion which he had felt long ago was vaguely beginning to reignite in his eyes after touching the 'cleaned' room. Though his sharp gaze gave away nothing, and what he was feeling was still indecipherable._

_As he was going to exit the room, he just happened to see the brown-haired cadet quickly pacing off the opposite direction._

_'_ Tch well at least that saved me some effort.'  _Levi called out firmly to the 'yet-to-learn-how-to-clean-properly' brat, unconsciously using Eren's name rather than 'brat'._

_"Eren." He called. It was only until the world slipped off his tongue that he realised what he said. His jaw muscles tightened. The indecipherable feeling inside of him fidgeted._

_Eren, who was going to move onto the next room, quickly stopped and spun around after hearing his name. For some reason, hearing his name being called by that specific voice felt incredibly weird to him, as if it didn't feel exactly right. It was simply unnatural. A squirmy feeling appeared in his chest, and it didn't feel pleasant._

_"Ye…yes Captain?" A pause appeared in his speech as his brain was registering and processing who he was replying to. He pulled down the cloth which shielded his mouth and nose from the dust particles when he spoke._

_Levi walked up to him (and had to raise his head to look at him) and became even more annoyed seeing the face of the brat who did the horrible cleaning. "That room is completely not up to standard, clean the room again." He ordered authoritatively._

_Eren's complaints immediately start piling. "But I already-"_

_"Then write a ten thousand word report on how rooms should be cleaned by tonight." Levi continued, paying no heed to Eren's meaningless and unfinished protest._

_Eren instantly shut his mouth up, but his green-blue eyes remained gleaming, yelling to the world 'but I already cleaned the room!'_

_"…" Levi glared coldly at him, eyebrows twitching. "Hurry up and get going, or else write the essay, brat." The feeling that was lingering in his chest subsided a little as he called Eren what he usually calls him, yet for some reason being without that feeling has made him feel a twinge of unexplainable regret._

_A thankful smile appeared on Eren's face as he swiftly walked past Levi and back into the room._ 'He actually gave me a choice?! Thank goodness I didn't need to write that report!'  _He whipped out a wiping cloth and got back to work, this time checking over the different possible nooks and crannies which any gunk could settle down thoroughly._

_Levi, however, was less eager to get his work done and slowly sauntered off to his office. He thought about how lucky that twerp was, as he had yet to finish off his six remaining reports, each needing to be detailed and inhumanely long._

* * *

_Eren has been crouching in the sun for who knows how long, listening to the bugs buzzing in the background. He half-heartedly grabbed a patch of plants that looked like weeds and pulled them out, chucking them briskly onto a pile of weeds towards the side._

_He was told to pull out the weeds along with their roots, but there were too many weeds to pull out. Instead, he took on the mentality that 'as long as it looks like the weeds have been pulled then it should be fine.'_

_He continued the grabbing and pulling action over and over again, working his way around the yard. His mind obviously decided to float off somewhere. Somewhere where he could soar through the ancient trees, then effortlessly shaving off the nape of the titans that infested the forest. It quickly changed to a scene where there was a huge pond in front of him, except it was endless and salty. Then, he could see himself with Mikasa, Armin and the other cadets (as well as horse face, though he blocked his face out) dipping their toes into the water._

_That cycle went on until a shadow fell in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. For are few moments he thought he was going to some weed mower for eternity. The moment the shadow fell in front of him, he felt hope and relief._

_But that feeling of relief was stepped on before it could even sprout._

_"Oi Eren." The voice fell upon him like an icy wall. He recognised that voice – he_ knew _that voice_.  _And again, he felt weirded out hearing his name called in the voice. Though he doesn't exactly know why._

_Eren tipped his head up, squinting at the bright surrounding. He brushed back the hair that was stuck to his forehead with a sweep of his arm, then keeping the arm there to block out the sun. His cheeks had a slight dust of red due to the intensity of the sun._

_"Y…yes Captain?" He chimed back. 'Ooh, shorty's here…maybe he has something new for me to do.'_

_"Tch, are you weeding or playing? You have to dig out the roots too." Levi stated. He looked down (one of the rare moments he gets to look down on anyone) at Eren' face which had smudges of dirt and green, presumably the chlorophyll from the weeds. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead, and his clothes were sullied as well._

_His tongue slipped again and he called Eren by his name. Yet again, that feeling returned, and he could feel it growing._

_Eren's arm flopped down in defeat, groaning in disapproval. "Urgh!..." He was feeling slightly irksome now. He now had to do the courtyard all over again. Dissatisfaction bubbled in his chest, but he knew he had no choice. Maybe he'll be forced to write a ten thousand word essay on how weeds should be properly weeded if he doesn't do so._

_Levi turned back to the way he came from once he's seen Eren going back to the start to weed the place properly. He headed back to his office to finish off his fourth report, which was again inhumanely long. Endurance testing was coming up next in his schedule, and yay, he couldn't wait for that. Today has been very fun indeed._

_And he walked off, with a tired sigh._

* * *

_Eren flopped down onto the ground completely worn out and out of breath, throwing the two bags of sand he was lugging around onto the floor without a second thought._

_He swore he was performing worse than usual, and he partially blamed that on the fact that one) he had to clean an entire row of rooms whilst also ordered to re-clean one of them, and two) most of the energy had been drained by the scolding hot sun pelting his back with its rays whilst he had to weed the courtyard._

_"…Eren."_

_Eren didn't even bother moving. He felt so tired after that endurance check-up Levi told him to do, so he remained sprawled on the ground listening to the fast thumping of his heart and puffs of his breath. And yet again, he felt weirded out hearing his name called in that voice._

_"Yes Captain…" He replied between breaths._

_Levi walked over and looked at Eren's appalling condition after finishing that run with the sandbags. He was disappointed. Not only was he slower, he was splayed on the grass like how a weak cadet. Eren is supposed to be humanity's hope, yet he's here, puffing like an old man after a jog._

_Actually no. He's weaker than an old man. He's not even crippled and look at how he is on the ground._

_"Are you even trying? Your endurance is crap. It still needs a lot of work." Levi ordained in a calm manner. "I'll be doubling the running in your schedule."_

_Eren lifted his head up in shock and immediately started complaining._

_"Captain…I can't run every day of the week with bags of sand for five kilometres!" Eren objected with complete disagreement. "I_ have _been trying! Can't you see?" He pushed himself up with a huff, eyes blazing with determination, gleaming under the sun._

_"If have been trying, then why can't you carry just two sandbags for five kilometres." Levi spoke seriously, raising his voice a little. "How is it going to help you, when you need to carry fucking injured soldiers, through the air, avoiding the titans then to safety." However, safety didn't even exist in this world._

_And that's why you have to keep carrying each other, forward and onwards, no matter what, or else death will come and carry you himself._

_"If you can't prove that you are someone we can rely on, then go back right now." He folded his arms and waited for a reply. His gaze remained narrow, cold and serious. Handling the lives of his squad was his responsibility, and if this brat was going to act as a burden, everyone will end up being carried by death._

_Instead of feeling trampled over, Eren's ambition and determination flared. He was going to kill every one of those vile lumps of walking flesh, and backing away wasn't an option._

_Levi took that as an 'I will stay and prove myself' from Eren. "Then go run around for another five kilometres with the sandbags. Or do it once every day from now on."_

_"Wha-?!" Eren's mouth fell agape at how cruel captain can be. He's done everything twice today, and surely he doesn't want to run twice today. "Urgh…" with one final decision, he pulled a face and his head lolled back, reluctantly crouching down to grab the sandbags._

_Levi turned around and a small tug appeared on his lips. Though that quickly disappeared as he still had two more long ass reports to start writing._

* * *

_Thus, the day went on like that._

_"Eren."_

_Every time Eren's name was called, he would feel weird hearing it in Levi's voice. He swore he only started calling him his name this morning. And every time that name unconsciously rolled off Levi's tongue, that weird feeling inside of him would only start feeling stronger._

_For once Levi was slightly compelled to find out what the feeling meant._

_"Yes?"_

_Then, for a few days, it went on like that._

_"Eren."_

_Eren wonders why he stopped calling him a brat._

_"Yes Captain?"_

_Though he sort of didn't like him calling him brat, but he didn't exactly know why he dislikes being called by his name by him either._

_"Eren."_

_"Hmm…" His mind often wonders why he doesn't particularly like it._

_"Eren."_

_"Ah. Y-Yes Captain?"_

_Levi's finding it particularly weird too. Why is he calling this brat by his name so…easily?_

_"Eren."_

_Though to him, it still feels like something is missing…_

_"Yes?"_

_"Eren."_

_"Yes." By now Eren was feeling beyond irksome._ 'Ugh…'

_"Eren."_

_"Yes." Eren snapped his head towards Levi, slight annoyance dusting his features. "Is there anything you want?"_

_"Nothing…I was just saying it…"_

_A few strands of hair fell across Eren's face, which had a confused smile plastered on it. Now he was speechless. "…"_

_"Eren."_

_He has practically had enough. It's either redo this again, do this, do that (or him just wanting to say it) and he was tired of it._

_"Yes, what is it?" He turned around this time with annoyance and tiredness clearly shown on his face. Even shadows fell over his eyes and a haze of dark energy radiated off him._

_Though as he turned around, he realised that it was in fact Eld who called his name. Eren immediately stood up with his bucket of dirty water upon seeing that it was not the usual Captain who has come to bother him._

_"H..Hey." Eld replied, instantly feeling how irritated he was. A bead of sweat appeared on his cheek. "What's the matter?" He asked with raised eyebrows._

_Eren clutched the bucket with one arm and rubbed the back of his neck with the other. "Ah…sorry Eld-san, I thought you were…"_

_"Ahh." Eld happened to be around a few times when Levi started calling Eren by his name._ 'Ha-ha.'  _He chuckled. "I can imagine. We are surprised that Captain takes such notice of you."_

_"Uh, well captain is only fulfilling the obligation of supervising and training me. I guess he must keep me on a close watch." Eren replies, though from the instances Levi has been just calling him for the sake of it has made him unsure to why he was actually paying him so much attention._

_From Eld's perspective, it seemed to be more than that. Maybe Levi was looking something in return from calling Eren by his name? "Huh- it really seems to be more than just that."_

_"Eh?" Why else?_

_"Nothing…" Eld placed a hand on his chin and pondered. "Actually, as a form of response, why don't you try calling him Captain by name sometimes? You'll connect to him more that way."_

_"Hah?" Eren was confused, as always._

_"I don't mean for you to be rude to him or anything, try calling him Captain Levi…or maybe even something like Levi-san instead," Eld suggested._ 'Maybe that's what Captain's looking for?'

_Eren thought for a while. "Well, will that change the situation? Calling Captain…" He looked up at Eld, hoping for an answer._

_"You won't know unless you try." He says._

~X~

When the man woke up, he felt drab all over, and his body practically felt like heavy slabs of rigid weights. His chest felt heavy too, as if the air inside of his lungs were actually stones, making it difficult for him to breathe. He was tired and a voice at the back of his head told him to keep on sleeping. Insomnia plagued his sleep for the last few days… (' _I remember that something happened when I was…where again?'_ )

Though the other voice inside of him informed him that everything was odd. It was telling him that he isn't supposed to be here, and the fact that his memory hasn't caught up with him yet. Also the fact that he has 'fallen asleep' in the first place.

Other than that, he was actually relatively comfortable. It was warm and cosy, and the sense of drowsiness was making every else seem like the perfect place to doze off again. A faint lingering smell of tea was the first thing he sensed when his sense of smell came back to him.

_'Tea?'_ He doesn't remember being near any tea shop…shop?  _'…What was I…'_  then it came back to him. It was as if a huge wave of water crushed the air out of his lungs, overpowering him. All of a sudden everything went cold, tense. He could hear his own heartbeat thumping hollowly in his chest.

_"…" The boy looked up at him. "Hey, what does 'Nick' mean?"_

The man jolted heavily, eyelids flying open, gasping with a sudden inhale of air.

_"That's the kid's name." He replied._

Everything was coming back to him, and it was coming back at a fast pace.

_The boy swivelled around and looked straight at the man's unfathomable green-blue eyes. "…what is a name? Do I have one? Does everyone have one?"_

His breathing became shallower and quicker. He was scared of what was going happen next, and he didn't like it. He remembers now. It was like a montage of events streaming through his vision, showing him the grim incident that was going to happen-

_"What's my name?"_

And that was the catalyst. That was when all chaos broke loose and he lost his mental gripping on his body.

From all the nights which forced him to stay awake, all those faces that haunted him whenever he closed his eyes. It was painful.  _So_  painful. Watching those faces appear and circle around him was oh so terrifying. The heavy lingering felling of  _guilt_  piled up on him when he saw them.

His breaths got shallower and shakier, and he had the sudden urge to get a strong tea. He wanted to stay awake.

Then, a small voice came from on top of him "Nng…"

The man immediately snapped out of his thoughts after hearing the familiar voice. He raised his head slightly and looked down, seeing a tuff of raven hair resting on his chest. So  _that_  was why he felt that it was hard to breathe and his body felt heavy. Unknowingly, a small chuckle escaped his lips. The boy was lying right on top of him, and he's surprisingly gotten heavier too.

The boy moved in his sleep and wrapped his arms around the man's chest unconsciously, then snuggled in a bit more. For him, it felt like he was sleeping on a really warm and comfortable mat, and most of all he felt  _safe_. He felt protected from the world. To him, it felt like home. He tightened his grip around the chest and went back into deep sleep again.

_'Gah!'_ The man felt a constricting thing tighten around his chest. But it didn't feel that bad at all. He felt quite protected in this little boy's arms, even though it was harder to breathe that way. He sighed a little and placed his head back down gently, closing his eyes as he did.

With the boy at his side, he felt a lot more secured. He gently wrapped his arm around the boy on top and dozed off once again, this time less afraid of his visions. He had the boy with him, and he was glad.

* * *

**Hmm quite a bit of Italics I say :3 Though this chap doesn't have much plot, it is setting it up for the next chapter ;D**

**I have been overly excited when I see comments xD Comment and kudo if you enjoyed :3 it means a lot to me.**

**See you guys soon~**

**-Bubblesss**


	14. Chapter 12: Trust and 1 Year Anniversary since the start of this series!

**Please do read this chapter to the very end :D Today's a very special day for this fanfic. Can't believe it's this time of the year already :')**

**Buckle up and get ready for the chapter!**

* * *

_Eren was now currently gently wiping down a couch, making sure that his towel wasn't too wet or else the couch will end up being too damp. His mind went off somewhere else, thinking about what Eld said just before he left._

"You may even be able to establish a new basis of trust."  _Was what Eld said before leaving._

 _Eren did not know why he had to 'establish a new basis of trust' or 'connect to him more'. "….." Thus he continued silently cleaning away, thinking._ 'I am staying the Scouting Corps thanks to Captain's supervision. Also…what else is there aside from him supervising me?  _Has he become my guardian or something?'_

_Just then, Levi happened to walk in. He had finally, at long last finished all six reports and polished them, and Hangi was meant to pick them up. "Oi Eren."_

_"Yes-" He turned around from the couch and saw Levi standing there. For some reason, he felt fidgety._ 'Should I? What if he doesn't like it? Uh…..' He swallowed before collecting his guts to say it. It's now or never. "-Captain Levi..."

_Levi paused in his tracks. His mouth was slightly open, staring. That feeling inside of him stopped, or more like he felt fulfilled. He quickly shut his mouth and pressed it into a thin line._

'Um…'  _"Captain…Levi?" Eren called again when he got no answer._

_Levi's mind immediately flashed back to the times when he was first given a name. The memory was as clear as day, still resonating with him even until this day. Though the memory itself was painful, he now has many people in the present who are with him._

_The first time that person bestowed him his name, he had an identity. That person gave him a gift of identity, which he will forever be thankful for. He would not be here now if it wasn't for that person._ That person…

_"…Eren…"_

_"Yes Captain Levi?" Eren replied to his calls again. By now he was used to being called and he ignored that weird feeling._

_"Eren." Levi started walking again, stopping right in front of Eren._

_"What's the matter, Captain Levi?" Question marks appeared around Eren's head as he watched Captain stare at him._ 'He's a bit close…'

_Levi's gaze turned nonchalant and endearing, eyebrows and eyelids relaxed as if he saw something treasurable. But Eren felt that Levi wasn't looking at him. Levi's gaze seemed nonchalant, and slightly hazed as if looking at something else that wasn't him._

_Levi didn't know how to feel anymore. This damn brat made him feel weird, and even weirder after calling his name. The nostalgia and melancholy that suddenly ballooned in his chest made his goddamn heart hurt, but this type of hurt was actually more consoling then painful. It reminded him of many things that happened in his past._

_It was painful, yet comforting. It was the past he held onto that protected him from the real world, giving him the false security he often needed like a blanket._

_He took another step forward, then swung his legs and tripped Eren over. Eren, who had no idea what was coming for him immediately started panicking as he fell hardly onto the just-cleaned couch with a thud._

_"Ugh!" He let out a grunt. Eren immediately knew he did the wrong thing by calling Levi by his name. Oh no. Why would captain stare at him as if he was an idiot when he said his name? Probably because he used captain's name without permission. Or maybe captain thinks he's not working hard enough. Or maybe his name was reserved for other people._

_The panicking in Eren grew quickly. "Sorr…Sorry! Calling you that really is no good after all!" he started apologising._ 'Gyah I guess I'm still in a different league in Captain's eyes than Eld and the others!'  _He tried to get up from the couch, pushing himself up on one arm._

_But before he could, Levi seemingly 'tripped over' and fell directly on top of him, crushing the air out of him and forcing him to tumble back down onto the couch with another ungraceful thud. Levi's head rested heavily on Eren's chest, where he could hear his speeding heart._

_"Woah!- why-" Eren tried yelling out, but it came out whispery._ 'So heavy…'

_Levi did not budge from his spot but instead replied with a simple, "Brat, I need a nap."_

_"Wait- Hah?! Here? Then I'll go grab a blanket-" Eren is currently slightly freaking out by all of this. He has absolutely no idea what was happening, and whether or not Levi's pissed about him calling his name._

_"No need." Levi muttered. "…"_

_A few strands of hair fell across his eyes as he remained still and silent. Nostalgia – a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past. That was how he felt – but then it's not at the same time. He's been looking for something these past few days for the feeling that was rousing inside of him. He has found his answer – but not entirely._

_The rise and fall of the person's chest beneath him reminded him of so many things. Oh so many things…_

_The rough texture of cloth between his fingers…black tea and the languid days that cruised by…but were abruptly cut short…_

_Meanwhile, Eren was lying there in a very awkwardly straight position not daring to move, so that he doesn't disturb Levi. Who knows what he's going to make him do if he did something wrong again. Shovel horse poop for a lifetime? Become a cleaner for the rest of his cadet-life?_

_Shadows formed over his eyes as more devastating thoughts went through his mind. He let out a small groan of helplessness and remained as still as a rock. But soon enough his muscles went sore and he couldn't help but fidget as minutely as possible._

_Levi, who felt that Eren has started to fidget (and maybe started to suffocate as he was under a human made of pure muscle and solid stuff) decided to flip their configuration over. With one swift move, Eren was all of a sudden draped on top of Levi and pressed against his chest._

_Levi let out a sigh and closed his eyes again, finally, after all these days, feeling content. Eren however, was still in the state of shock. Sure his captain would come up to him and pat him on the shoulder if he did good, or maybe be dangling from his arms whilst being rescued from his titan form – but other than that, that was just about the closest they would get._

_But now? He was literally lying on top of him. Right on top. It took him a few seconds for it to fully pass through his mind and for him to register what was going on._

_"…" Eren's eyes widened unbelievable wide and his heart finally started to speed up. "…Ha?!"_

_Levi felt the person on top starting to struggle and panic and for a reason, he wanted this to stay on the couch a bit longer. "It's better this way." He murmured, unfazed. Though he forgot to add to his statement– 'than being squished' and maybe a 'now shut up, brat' as well._

_Eren, outright took that statement in a weird way and started struggling against Levi's vice grip. "W-W-Wait what? What do you mean!" he yelped, continuing to struggle though never being able to get up. "Uh- I really have to go." He tried but with no avail._

_There was no indication that Levi was going to loosen his grip anytime soon. "Let go of me!-" he tried again, louder._

_"Shut the fuck up." Levi interrupted in an emotionless tone. With an almighty chop to Eren's exposed neck that was surprisingly firm, Eren lost all his energy and flopped back down in mid-protest. He immediately stopped moving and scrunched his features up to the unexplainable pain that radiated from the back of his neck._

_A faint moan of utter defeat came from his mouth. His brain was going to have a hella hard time processing what happened just then._

_Levi loosened his muscles and relaxed, exhaling. The gentle silence that enveloped the room was comforting, a blanket of unspoken words that kept them warm. He shifted his gaze upon the brown-haired cadet – humanity's so-called hope – and allowed himself to ponder. Faint crinkles formed under his eyes as he continued staring at Eren, though unexplainably wistful._

_He wanted to savour this moment, a moment that he probably won't be able to experience again. It was just him and Eren. This moment may stay with him forever – but maybe more of an embarrassment later on._

_In the corner of his vision, he saw someone standing in the doorframe. "…"_

_Levi let out a dissatisfied exhale._

_Hanji leaned against the door frame with crossed arms and had this very disarming smile on her face. "Chop chop! It's time to get up and work." Though her voice was nowhere near amused, but more like apprehension._

_Levi sighed._

* * *

It was like waking up super late on days where he had nothing planned except maybe teach the boy some new things. His body blatantly notified him that he has been sleeping for incredulously long time and that he better get up or else he's going to get an overdose on sleep – if that was possible. Sleep was rare for him the last couple weeks, and a part of him still wants to drift off again.

The man cracked open his eyelids slowly and was greeted by the same faint lingering smell of tea, the warm and cosiness, except he didn't feel a heavy weight pressed against his chest. Instead, he was looking into a familiar pair of steel grey eyes which were only a few centimetres in front of him

"-H-ey-" He tried to speak, but all that came out was something extremely hoarse and painful. His voice hasn't gotten any water ever since…the time he left his dwelling? There was a whole list of questions beginning to appear in his mind, and each one of them made him even more insecure. There was a nearby clock, and all it told him was that the time was either 5 in the morning or afternoon.

"You're awake." The boy stated.

The man cleared his throat with a hoarse cough. Though he didn't want to admit it, he was slightly disappointed by how plain the boy's reaction was. "Yes, I am." He answered with a reassuring tug at the corner of his lips.

He then attempted to prop himself up, but before he could, the little boy who was seemingly stoic tackled him back onto the couch with a fierce hug.

The boy buried his head into the crook of the man's neck, arms wrapped tightly around the other's chest even though he couldn't reach all the way around. He wanted to make sure, make sure that the person that he was holding was there. Not just a figment of his imagination – not just any old and crippled man, but  _his_  old and crippled man.

Well, the man wasn't disappointed anymore. Now that type of reaction was what he was covertly hoping for.

The boy rubbed his face into the man's clothes and pressed his eyes closed, trying to force back the tears that secretly starting to pile. He stayed like that for a while, taking in the man's existence and forcing back the unshed tears. His pride was too big to show that he was on the verge of crying.

"Hey, hey, everything's alright." Though his head still has this faint sensation of a migraine. The man gently wrapped his arm around the boy and softly patted his hair. He gazed at the child in his arm with tenderness. It has been a while, but there was a moment when he came to a realisation that a connection between them had formed.

The boy leaned into the man's touch, face still embedded into his chest. "Shut up." He grumbled. "I don't need your comforting." But despite denying that he didn't care, he still held on tight.

A chuckle escaped the man's lips and it felt so refreshing, to both the boy and himself. He's finally got a good night's sleep and he wakes up to this fluffball who overtly denies that he cared for his wellbeing (though smothers him with a hug within the first minute he gets up). "Ha ha, ok twig," He responded with a feigned huff.

"Don't call me twig!" The boy complained, immediately looking up with sharp eyes. "You old cripple!" He hid his face back into the man's chest, ignoring the fact that hiding his flushed cheeks was actually going protect him. "But…" he continued.

"But what?" The man ventured.

"You're not…" The boy swallowed, "not going to die…right…"

"What?!"  _'Skipping right to death again- well, I did pass out…I probably did scare him a bit.'_ The man looked down and finally realised how the boy was desperately clinging to him, hands clenched and gathering fabric. "I'm going nowhere." He stated firmly,  _'Not until…'_

"But you!-" He pressed his lips together, forcing himself to stop. The trauma he went through was enough. When he first slept in the spare bedroom, he had a terrible nightmare that the man lying lifeless in a dark alleyway. He immediately went to seek the familiar and comforting warmth which he would go to whenever he had a terrifying nightmare. If the boy could tighten his grip anymore, he did, and it was surprisingly strong. "But you…"

"You basically fell into a syncope at the side of the road due to hypotension and extreme mental exhaustion." A person's voice cuts in. It was silvery, clear and light but somewhat mellow and firm. Somebody who speaks with confidence in their words.

The man jumped slightly and tensed up, on alert. His natural reaction to a stranger would definitely be  _"who the hell are you,"_ before proceeding to beat the crap out of them if they don't show him that they are of no harm. The underground was a dangerous place after all.

However, the boy in his arm did not seem at all alert and simply pressed his face into his chest even more. Though he did nudged himself upright a bit so that he would be more presentable.

The boy turned his face slightly so that one eye was peeking at the person. "Doctor." He uttered.

"Doctor?" The man echoed quietly.

Deilan the doctor stepped forward, however hesitated when he saw the one-armed man tensed up. he quickly went on to introduce himself to lighten up the tension. "I-uh-um, I'm uh Deilan. I saw that you were in need of medical attention at the side of the road so I uh went to help you." He didn't seem as confident now. Deilan is a sincere doctor at heart, but nothing more when it comes to everyday conversations.

"Oh." The one-armed man was still sceptical. Doctors do not just appear out of nowhere, and being in the underground, coming across a doctor would almost be impossible. All this could be an act.

The boy seemed to detect the uneasiness the man was going through. "He's the greengrocer grandpa's nephew."

With that, the man was able to relax a bit. "Well, I'm in your debt. Thank you."

Deilan saw the signal that he was allowed to continue moving forward, so he went briskly to the couch opposite and sat down. "Can I do a quick check up?" he asked. "I didn't get the chance to properly do so yesterday afternoon."

 _Slight shock swept over the man as he pieced together the information. 'Yesterday afternoon?! So I've been here for more than just a couple hours!'_ He could feel the headache ebbing back again, the constricting and thrumming pain beginning to grow. Releasing the boy, he used the hand to rub his temple.

"Are you ok?" Deilan asked when he saw the other showing signs of a headache.

"A-ah, I'm fine. And yeah, the check-up." He quickly answered.

The boy thought of something. "I'll get you tea." The man would always like tea.

The doctor gave an amused chuckle.  _'This child is cute.'_ "Na-uh, for now, it would be better if he stuck to plain water. It help him recover better."

If Deilan didn't add on the fact that it would help the man recover, he would've got tea anyways, but the fact that it would do good, the boy listened for this one time. He unwrapped his arms around the man's chest and hopped down from the couch before walking off, looking back at the man one last time before he went.

"You must be a great doctor," The man suddenly commented. "He wouldn't usually open up to anyone."

"Ahh," the sandy-haired doctor gave an airy laugh, "You know, he didn't dare leave your side when I first carried you in – and…your son…was quite protective of you too."

The man's heart skipped a beat when he referred to the boy as his son. He never really thought about it  _that_ way, and now thinking about it the idea of him having a  _child_  made him a couple degrees embarrassed and flustered. "N-No, I-w-we a-aren't related ahaha…" He started blabbering and he immediately regretted it because it made things even more complicated.

Though Deilan was slow to catch on and immediately turned into a deep shade of red. "Oh! God, I'm sorry- Ahha I presumed that since you guys were together and all." He apologised, just as flustered. The Deilan inside his mind was currently flippantly banging his head against a wall and covering his face in shame.  _'Gyaaaaa how could I embarrass myself this much?!'_ To distract himself, he took out some of his medical instruments and started the check-up.

The man silently complied, but his green-blue eyes were still restless after that 'son' incident. He unbuttoned his shirt and let the doctor do his job. However, seeing the cleanly cut stump uncovered made his heart heavy and his lungs constricted. He didn't like anyone seeing it – and he himself didn't like looking at it either.

But the doctor instantly saw the remnants of a missing limb. The stump did not end in a gathered lump, but more rather it was cleanly-cut as if something huge and powerful took it right off. "Your left arm…"

The doctor had suspicions that the missing arm might have been the cause to why the man fainted. Maybe blood loss or pain? However looking at it now, he discovered that the wound was nowhere near fresh – it has already properly healed since a long time ago so it couldn't possibly be related.

He had finished his inspections and was obviously interested in the missing arm. "May I…take a look?" he asked tentatively, seeing that the man was uncomfortable in the first place of revealing his missing limb.

The man looked over at where his left shoulder was and exhaled. "Y…yeah."

With permission, the doctor moved closer to take a look. The stump was more like a rounded off mound, and the scars running down it were peculiar too. "It's so clean-cut…but there's a small ridge near the side, almost like-" His eyes widened when he realised, his breath caught in his throat and his words were smouldered for a moment. "A titan's doing…" He slowly lifted his head up and looked at the man in new light. "Sir, you…"

The man remained quiet. His eyes dulled, his eyebrows lowered and his lips were pressed tight. It feels odd talking about his old battle scars. But one thing… "How do you…know about… _them."_

"Ahaha, Well I – uh, I'm from above and I came to visit my uncle, who I think you know." Deilan answered with a small smile. "I'm a doctor, but I wanted to come down here and check on the people, even though I might not be particularly welcomed." His gaze shifted to the mound again, slightly melancholy. "And since I'm from above, I see injuries like this all the time. It hurts me to see these."

Coming across somebody with such an open heart, especially a doctor. Doctor nowadays either become to mysterious and shrewd after they come in contact with the rich, or they simply have lost hope in humanity. But this Deilan, was still pure and the man notices this.  _Because he's seen doctors that have lost their heart._

After that, there was a silence that fell between them too, mainly because Deilan was intrigued by the injury and the man was sated with not speaking.

"Hey, I don't think I know your name yet." Deilan suddenly exclaimed.

 _'Name, huh.'_ The man thought. A small shiver went down his spine when he thought back to the boy, asking about his name. "I-"

The boy walked in and held a cup of water in front of him, interrupting whatever he was going to say. "Hey, here's water."

"O-oh, thanks." The man took the water and took a couple sips before placing the cup down.

The boy was now concentrated on something, something he hasn't really seen before either. The missing arm that was never in the sleeve that he always held on to – and how much hidden  _muscle_  he had. No wonder the man always won when they had a dual. Out of curiosity, he poked the man's muscles.

"What was that for?"

The boy went on to pinch the muscles.

"Oi!" The man yelped.

Retracting his hand, the boy stopped and plopped down next to the man. "I want to have just as much muscle as you."

"Haha, wait until you get older. You're still too much of a twig now." The man stated, successfully baiting the gullible boy. "Do a couple circuits around the place and few hundred push-ups every day and you'll be as strong as me." He flashed a playful grin, earning an earful from the boy for calling him a twig.

In the end, Deilan never really got to know the man's name.

The grandpa led the two to the doorway, and Deilan was there to bid the farewell.

"Thanks again for getting to be before anything else did," The man took his coat from the coat rack and slipped it on, with one empty sleeve lying beside his torso. "You're a great doctor, Deilan."

"Ahh, really there's no need to thank me, and well…" Deilan scratched the back of his head and beamed. "Thanks, I'll strive to be a better doctor! Come and visit me anytime if you don't feel well. I'll be here for the next 2 weeks!"

"I'll keep that in mind. You'll definitely be a great doctor." The man added with a subtle smile. The grandpa was kind enough to gather the dropped groceries for them. So he picked the rucksack up and slung them back onto his shoulder. "We'll be leaving now." The boy heaved up a few bags too, purposely not allowing the man to take anymore by dragging them away from the man's grasp.

"Oh wait! One more thing," Deilan called out. "You uh, you really remind me of a doctor-friend of mine. He wears glasses and he has brown hair too. He's a prodigy doctor and he could cure all the impossible diseases…I was just thinking if you would know him since…" –  _'you had an injury and it seemed to be very welly treated…and you guys do look alike.'_ Though he didn't know that the injury simply healed by itself and not with any medical attention.

The man stopped in his tracks, with his foot hovering just above where he was going to step. His eyes widened but did not say anything.  _'It can't be…'_ But he doesn't even know if it really is the same person. He resumed walking and turned around slightly, giving a shake of the head before giving a brief wave and walking back towards home.

* * *

The moment the boy stepped into the familiar dwelling, he placed the bags down and ran to the kitchen. He quickly came bounded back with a cup of water and offered it to the man, though looking away and not meeting his gaze.

The man was surprised by the sudden care the boy showed towards him (he found it cute) and tenderly smiled down. He really has softened up these couple months since the little boy has entered his isolated and meaningless life. "Thanks." He downed the water and placed it on the dining table before generously ruffling the boy's hair. "Since when were you so nice?"

The boy let him ruffle his hair – just this once. "I've always been." He deadpanned and huffed.

 _'He's a bit too serious for his age, ain't he?'_ The man let out a light laugh. "Well come on, It's nearly eight pm. Dinner would sound good."

The boy nodded and scrambled off to retrieve the bags. A small ballooning feeling of happiness when the man thanked him. He wanted the man to recover faster, and Deilan said that water makes the healing process better. Though he's still highly shy of doing things like this.

But as long as the man's fine…then he is too.

* * *

Ten o'clock soon came and the boy was tired, mentally and physically. He spent the past day worrying, stressing and painfully waiting for the man to open his eyes and what he really wanted now was to sleep – but only if he's sure that the man's on the road to recovery too.

He rubbed his eyes and walked up to the man, who was wiping down everything for the night. Cleanliness was something that he wouldn't abandon even if he has other things to do.

The boy tugged at the sleeve and the man looked down. "What's up- you tired?"

The child nodded and tugged at the sleeve again, and somehow, the man understood. His eyes crinkled and started walking to the bedroom. "Fine fine, I'll send you off to bed." He's noticed that the boy has become more open too, and not constantly being embarrassed by his own actions.

Once he successfully tucked the boy in, he sat down next to him.

"You idiot…" The boy mumbled.

"Hey, I'm sorry." The man apologised.

"Hn." The boy pulled out his arms and wrapped them halfway around the man's waist.  _'You were a nice mattress…'_ In some way or another, the man agreed to lie with him a bit until he fell asleep after a series of sleeve-tugging. And in the next moment, the boy was smothering the man again with a death grip.

The man tried peeling away the boy, but it proved hard to do with only one arm. "O-oi, kid, my neck-mmf!" The boy was once again comfortably lying on top of him. "Hey, there's a bed for a reason, you don't need to lie on me-"

"Shut up." The boy mumbled, nearly half asleep. A part of him didn't want to leave the supposedly 'ill' person alone and for a good reason. He thought back to the moment, the horrifying moment when the man's face scrunched up in pain, stumbling dangerously to the side and  _collapsing_. The gang was closing on to them, and in that moment, all those terrible memories of him when he was back in the dark side of the underground of him struggling to live every single day. He would get beaten savagely when he got caught, or simply beaten by his own uncle.

His uncle…

Thinking about him made his blood run cold. He tightened his grip, and pressed his face into the man, wanting comfort.

The man tried once again to peel away the arms, but somehow they tightened again. "I'm going to die of asphyxiation if you-mmf!" And so, he really had no way to get the extra clingy boy off. The boy would never, ever be this clingy to him. Never. So this was a new problem he's facing. Then, he thought of something.

He brought his right arm up and chopped down on the boy's neck, and it was surprisingly effective. The boy immediately relaxed his grip, giving the chance for the man to finally escape. He gently unravelled the boy's arms from him and laid him down softly on the bed before pulling up the blanket.

"You troublesome kid." He said, though without any sneer. Giving one last ruffle, he quietly exited the room and headed to his room before sitting down in front of his desk.

This time, he didn't feel tired enough to grab a strong tea (he's not allowed to anyway – and if the boy found out he'd probably be banned from tea for life) nor to sleep. Instead, he pulled open a drawer and took out the journal, and started writing once again.

87

* * *

**Guess what day it is today? I made this chapter superrrrrr long just for this occasion! I was going to split it up in two, but you guys deserve this long chapter :)**

**\\\It's the one year anniversary since the first chapter serialisation of this fanfic!/**

**_Happy birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear_ ** _1 Hundred_ _**, Happy Birthday to you!** _

**_Hip pip, Hooray! Hip pip Hooray! Hip pip, Hoorayyyyyy!_ **

**I can't believe it's already been a year :'D Time goes so fast! *cries***

**First of all, I would like to say thank you to all those who have been reading this fanfic. It means a lot to me as an author, and a lot to this fanfic as well. I want to tell this heart-warming story to all those Attack on Titan fans, because when I first read the doujinshi, I sat there in revelation. I was touched by it, inspired by it, and that's why I decided to turn it into a fanfic (despite my not-so-good job of writing, like I always get C's for English).**

**I once again, as the author, want to thank you all for the continuous support, no matter how big or small. If you really felt touched, or in any way enjoyed, loved and moved by this fanfic, please share your experience to others by spreading this story :')**

**It doesn't matter if you're a long time follower, newcomer, or a binge reader that has discovered this hidden in the flow of others, thank you :) and by the end of this fanfic, please do leave a humungous brain dump of your feelings into a comment. (Of course, the long-time followers get more credit cos lol they have a hell lot of patience xD )**

**And of course, to all those who have reached this point of the journey, let's continue the journey together til the end!**

**And so, until next time,**

**~Bubblesss.**

**Ps Happy Halloween and pls excuse any mistakes!**


	15. Chapter 13: Justice

88

The man had placed all the groceries he bought two days ago in their respective places, the somewhat malnourished potatoes into their own little space underneath the grains. Though he realised that the salt was also running out, and if he didn't get to the markets early, he would have to wait another fortnight before the people at the shops got another batch.

And when he was looking around for paper to write all the things he needed to buy, he also realised that the paper he put great effort into ordering should have arrived yesterday.

 _'Ahh,'_  He railed to himself. _'I should really check what I need to get before going to the markets.'_  Though he likes waking up early nowadays, the prospect of him having to go shopping yet again made him grumble.  _'I better go quickly and come back before the little guy wakes up.'_

He stepped into his boots, which were up to his knees, and tucked the makeshift shopping list into his pocket when he heard familiar, light and swift footsteps approaching from behind.

Turning around, he saw the boy, somewhat breathless and still groggy with sleep glaring at him with all sharpness he could muster.

"No," came the point-blank interjection from the boy which was slightly scratchy and muffled. His hair was tousled even more than usual which made it look even more enticing to ruffle.

The man had his usual duffle bag dropped by his feet, ready to go out for the usual shopping rounds when he heard the other tenant of this place suddenly appear. He slowly stopped slipping on his coat and turned around to look at the other.

"'No' to what?" He asked, unsure of what the boy was referring to. No to him wearing his coat, leaving so early in the morning or having his hair brushed back?

The boy's obdurate gaze didn't waver. "You're not going." He went on, still not clarifying his point clearly, but he sounded extremely decided.

"Going to where?" The man slipped on his coat anyway and picked up his duffle bag with his right hand. "I'll be back soon."

He couldn't help but think back to two days ago when he forcibly chopped the kid on the nape – maybe that was why he seemed a little more downbeat than usual. Recently (excluding the night before when he was out of commission), he would always be greeted by a thin smile and subtle expressions of familiarity whether it be the some-what obvious uplifting shine in the other's eyes, unhesitating to clean the place for him or simply staying in his vicinity or a usual good morning or good night.

But his attitude towards him since yesterday morning went into a completely different category. The man couldn't place his finger on exactly what has changed, he just knew.

Maybe the way the boy stood between his doorway with his eyes trained on him with a steeled expression, watching him doing whatever he was doing at the corner of his eye or silently eyeing him from across the other side of the room, which somehow reminded him of man of someone he knew very well.

The boy took an urgent step forward then hesitated, before starting up again. He stopped right at the man's feet and looked up, reaching up to grasp a sleeve but paused.

The man looked down, still puzzled. He has no idea what this kid has going on in his head, definitely not what an ordinary seven-year-old has.

After a couple more moments of just staring, the boy's nimble fingers slowly but firmly wrapped around the man's sleeve. "You're not going out there. You don't need to." He sort of clarified.

"What do you mean? We've ran out of bread and salt, or unless you want the soup we're having tonight to be bland then I won't need to go out." The man spoke, watching the boy nod with a little bit more enthusiasm than he's seen in him all day.

"…But, I'll still need to retrieve the paper I ordered from that irritable man at the trader's alley. He'll bargain it off if I don't get there by seven." He pressed his lips together to form a thin line, making himself look like he was in a tough situation.

The boy immediately stopped nodding. "Who cares about the paper. All you have to do is stay here and don't move."

The man sighed lightly, "Ah, whatever it is that you're worrying about, I'll definitely be back in an hour, okay." Offering a smile, he turned around. His sleeve slipped out of the other's grasp as he took a step towards the door, but he didn't get far because he was quickly yanked back.

"What is it?" The man was getting tired of tossing the ball of vague allusions about who knows what with the boy. He looked at the other with patience but was clearly starting to become weary.

The boy pulled a scowl and glared as if the other didn't have a brain. "What if you don't make it back, and something like that happens again? And you-" Something made the boy pause, and he suddenly turned away, feeling his face heat up warmly from the words that had just come out of his mouth.

The man blinked down at the boy in surprise.  _'OH…oh…so it's about that.'_  He pinched his eyebrows together at his own thick-headedness and obliviousness to how someone else could be affected by (what he believes) such a little mishap.

Sure, he did black out on the street and remain the next couple hours being an unconscious meat sack, but he didn't realise how much that's affected the people around him. It didn't feel like such a drastic thing to be pondered or thought much about, to him.

He's been through times when he's being bashed until his face was stepped into the floor and a molar came loose from his jaw, thrown into a dank cell and fallen into the stomach of a–

The man knelt down in front of the boy, eyes level with the child's. His eyes were soft, and he patted the other's small shoulder. How should he start his explanation that he'll be fine? Honestly, him collapsing should be considered to be nothing major at all.

But this child who has yet to experience the world would see this as a catastrophic event that befell upon the person he looked up to.

Sometimes, explaining things would do less good then experiencing. Experience is the teacher of all things. So the man decided that offering a well-constructed explanation would do no good in consoling the kid.

"Since you're that worried, then why don't you come with me?" The man suggested. Oh, he could already imagine all the protests this fiery dark haired boy could fire back at him.

The man was suddenly drawn aback when the boy's stone-grey eyes snapped to meet his. The cogwheels turning and scales going to work in the child's mind was impressive, as the man watched as an answer sprung to his eyes.

But a dark overcast still hung over him, thinking about how even though he was there when the man crumpled to the floor without any forewarning, he was unable to do a single thing. He had stood there, folding in on himself and clasping onto his cherished cloak waiting for it all to get better.

The man caught onto the self-depreciating look, he was so used to seeing on one of his old friends. "You can always run to Deilan if something happens again, can't you."

Something jumped in the boy's chest. A spark of hope, a glimmer of a new type of warmth. A feeling where maybe that he could do something, that he had always had a purpose. A sense of being needed.

 _"That whore of a sister…told her to get rid of it…but she didn't listen did she!"_  The bitterness that flared in his uncle's coarse words had left a sour taste on the boy's tongue. He had been drinking again. It was either that he's out doing 'business' or coming back drunk. But at least despite the lack of care, the boy was miraculously alive.

And he found himself here, in front of this mysterious man that entered his demoralised, purposeless, miserable situation and forged it into something that was sharper, shinier and useful.

A part of the boy, more than anything, wanted to prove that he was of value, of use. That compelled him more than his determination to keep the man inside and in house arrest.

The man knew that he doesn't need to necessarily hear an answer from the boy to know what he's thinking about.

"Go get ready." He lightly nudged the boy towards his room, ushering him along. "It's going to be chilly. Bring your cloak along."  _'That was a lot more…different than I thought it would go.'_  He stood up swiftly from his crouching position and smoothed his brushed back hair.

Truthfully, he thought that there would be a lot more back and forth action, which the boy would try and reason but still be outreasoned. He let out a small, contented exhale, happy that this kid he was taking care off was starting to do things gently rather than using force. If he turned back time to around two months ago, the boy would've definitely tried to glare him down and tug him away from the door.

"So, what do you say? I'll wait for you here." Tugging a chair out from the dining table and sat down, eyes still on the unmoving boy. "Better hurry or I'll leave without you." He added lazily.

At that, the boy seemed to flicker to life. He ran back down the corridor in a flurry, and about ten minutes later, he already had his shoes on and the man's empty duffle bag clutched in his hands and ready to go.

* * *

 

They had just picked up their stack of paper from an extremely irked shopkeeper down at the trader's alley with a few apologies for not coming and picking it up earlier.

"If it weren't for the fact that you saved my wife I'd sold them off." Was the grumpy shopkeeper's remark when he arrived. "Hmpf, now get going!"

There was something icky that dripped through his words, something which the boy was more familiar with than the man. For once, the man had no idea why the shopkeeper was so resentful towards him. He was pretty sure he hasn't done anything to offend him.

The boy rolled his eyes and thought that he would more rather spend his time getting the man to explain to him how to balance properly on a 3DMG than watch this stupidly oblivious man handle jealous husbands whose wives have taken an interest in him. 'Tch, thick-headed womaniser.'

Now, they were on their way to the markets with a mission to get salt and bread.

The man walked past a few intersections, and the man's expression became dour as he walked past the most recent one. A woman, delicate in appearance and definitely faring well in such a ruthless environment, had a rather rowdy looking male cornering her with ill intent in mind.

 _'Tch…It's him again. I thought I beat him_ good _last time.'_  Such a coincidence, because that happened to be the same man that was harassing the paper seller's wife.

The woman, or more rather girl, looked around 20 years of age. But faring well in the underground doesn't mean that you're off living in a comfortable house with clothes that were expensive enough to feed a bottom dweller for an entire month. Here, it's more so that you have clothes on your back, wander the streets and markets without needing to hide in the background. No need to steal or bribe, but continue living with the lucky jobs they have that earn enough income.

The man halted and turned back, unhesitant in his steps. It's been a while since he's done this kind of thing, but he has confidence that his strength hasn't left him yet.

The boy, who was all of a sudden left standing by himself with a bundle of tied paper in his arms. Looked at the emptiness that should be filled up by a tall, one-armed man made his stomach fall.  _'No – not again-'_  He searched around him, hoping to find a familiar fluttering sleeve or the end of his coat, but found nothing.

When he finally mustered the courage to raise his head and look beyond the immediate area around him, a gush of relief which he's never felt before rushed into him.

There was nothing in the world which he had to be worried about, not with an ardent warmth or happiness. He's felt relieved for not getting caught, for not ending up as a lifeless corpse in the sewage pipes at the end of the day, but the feeling of relief that came with that was heavy, blunt and grim. It was a relief that told him that he was going to go through living hell all over again the next day. The rise before the fall.

But this relief that filled his lungs with a reassuring squeeze which made him…calmer was different. It was all new and odd to him, and it confuses him.

He saw the man's brushed back hair bobbing away through a thin crowd and turning towards an alleyway and immediately paced quickly after him.

 _'What is_ he- _'_  Then he heard shouting, mainly by a deep, unfamiliar and definitely derisive voice. But then a calm, controlled and astutely familiar one gradually placated the other.

The boy quickened his face, his cloak fluttering past people's legs as he did. His eyebrows were pressed down in concentration and sudden knowledge of what that crippled old man could be getting himself into now.

"Sir, are you sure this miss wants your hand on her?" The man asked without displaying any shred of impatience in his voice.

The male, who barely turned his face to acknowledge the new presence scoffed. "This isn't something you need to stick your nose into, sir."

The girl that was basically pinned between his arms fidgeted and squirmed which blatantly said that she did not want to be in this situation at all.

Seeing how the man has run into this guy before, he's not even going to try talking him out of doing it. Last time, he had to use both his boot and fist to get the message of 'stop harassing women,' across, but it seems like that same guy has forgotten.

So he went straight to shoving him to the ground with a kick, again.

"What the actual-" the harasser who was now on the floor finally took a good look at the man's face, and the blood immediately drained out of him. "S-Shit…"

The man didn't need to say anything, a good glare was enough to get him off the ground and scrambling out of the way. He heard the message last time, but now he really understood it. But honestly, sometimes the thought of something is actually worse than experiencing it and the man was counting on that fact.

"T-thank you! I-I don't know if I would have been able to fend him off by myself." The girl, face flushed with embarrassment and maybe a little bit more of something else, shoved an apple which she had in a bag right into her saviour's hand and ran off, leaving a stunned one-armed man behind.

The man blinked and thumbed the probably expensive glossy apple in his hand. "Well, she's a shy one."

The boy watched on, unsurprised that his old man had done something like that. "Don't leave like that again, asshole."

A vein popped when he was addressed as an 'asshole.' Only one person he knew down here addressed him like that.  _'This kid sure is having fun naming me with his new vocabulary, huh.'_  His smile twitched as he watched the girl round the corner. "Ha-ha, sorry. I've got to make a living for us too, in order to eat you know."

"Hn." was the only reply he got.

Smoothing down his coat, he picked up his pace again, walking in front of the boy and letting his sleeve drift freely behind him.

Justice is never an unwelcomed thing in a place where there is so little of it. When there is a need for it, someone must deliver. It's a good way of living, knowing that you've done something good for somebody. This was basically what the man went around doing.

Though it still perplexed the boy why the hell he would want to get into the trouble of helping somebody, with the possibility of getting nothing back at all.

The boy stood there for a while, watching the man stride with a sturdy force. The man's coat loosely outlined his body which couldn't be described as robust. He only had one arm, yet he was strong as hell and acted as a bodyguard for a living.

The way his body turns and moves through the other's punches and kicks seem almost rehearsed, like he could do it all with his eyes closed. Almost like he does it for more than just a living.

He used his sense of justice that definitely did not belong in the underground, to help out the weaker, the ones that can't defend themselves. Despite him having a dubious and shrouded identity, he didn't look out of place either. The people which he graced with his touch of justice welcome him in warmly regardless of who he is.

He would never ask for any reward, which the boy further did not understand at all, and in fact, he would try his best to turn down anything which was offered to him. In the end, whoever it was who wanted to offer anything as a gift, whether it be an old man, a young woman or a child, they would always at least leave a part of their gift with him.

The boy recalls a time when they were going back home after sparring (which the boy lost again, and he was basically ready to wash the dishes next time they spar as well), and the man had returned a bag of stolen money to its rightful owner and the boy had asked, "Why? You could've just left it. It's not like you get half of the money or anything."

And the man had replied, "Sometimes…there are things that you get in return is more than just money."

A deep, painful yet warm sentimentality had washed over him at that time, and the boy simply couldn't understand.

In the world which the boy had lived in since his birth, money was everything. It was power, it was fame and it was a luxury. What had made his mother go out at night for days before coming back like his uncle? What had taken his mother away from him? Why did his uncle always leave him with a few blotchy bruises when he came home drunk?

Yet this man, who had one sleeve filled and the other empty, a sharp glint in his eye which many who have seen the ugly side of the underground has lost, and a sense of right and responsibility which just should exist here, had shown him otherwise.

Manners, cleanliness, care, and maybe, a parental figure the boy never really had. Displaying equity over the sometimes unfairly justified equality.

A blossom of warmth which has been flowing in his chest for a while now, continued to grow as he watched the man's stature get fazed by a few people walking past, his brown hair and his gleaming green-blue eyes.

The man turned around after the not hearing small footsteps following him. He saw the boy still standing in the exact same spot, staring at him with a gaze which was already becoming steely and indiscernible.

"What are you standing there for? I thought you came out to keep me in sight, otherwise, I'm going to go get the bread and you can just…" By then, the boy had ran up to him in a burst of speed and latched onto his sleeve, looking up at him as if waiting for more instructions. "…follow along then."

A small smile played on his lips as the boy started dragging him off towards the markets, enjoying having a little guy beside him after all the unmeasurable amount of loneliness and solitude he had spent.

* * *

**Thank you to all those that kudo'd! See you guys next time~ Love y'all for still being here!**


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